Amidst the Hate: Revised
by Soul-Bills61
Summary: Minato and Kushina are proud parents of twin girls, one born with a head of white, the other a shocking yellow. Will they take the world by storm, or will they be consumed by tragedy? And how does a blind girl fit in to it all? Main paring will be Yuri eventually, rated M for safety (the normal).
1. Chapter 1

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 1**

A young girl, probably around seven, was in her father's study, searching every inch for something to read. The girl has the strangest hair color, stark white, and her eyes were a deep, royal purple. She wore a dark red shirt and black pants, and had a scowl etched on her whiskered, pale face. 'What does dad do up here? There's only a desk, a chair, and who knows how many strange markings on the walls!' She checked the desk, finding some drawers, and tried to open it, failing. Looking closer at it, it too had a weird mark on it. "Why is that even there?!"

Just then, the door to the study opened from behind her.

"Anza? What are you doing in here?" a male voice said.

The now named Anza turned, and saw her father. The man wore the standard outfit of Konoha's shinobi without the flak jacket, had blonde hair that could be recognized a mile away, and deep blue eyes. This was Minato Namikaze, the Hokage. Unbeknownst to her, he shouldn't even be alive, but that is a tale for another time. For now, she said what was currently her mission. "I want something to read!"

The Fourth Hokage smiled. "There are plenty of books downstairs. Why not read those?"

"They're not big enough! I want something that I can't read in two days!"

Minato couldn't help but chuckle at that. 'I guess she's like me when I was her age. I always wanted to increase my knowledge and read the hardest books...' "Okay, I think there's something here that would be suitable for you." He went to the drawer that he saw his daughter leering at, and put some chakra into the seal, unlocking it. Pulling it open, the only thing in it was a single book. "Here, this is one of my favorite stories."

Anza reached in, grabbed the book, and held it up to her face. "'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, made by Jiraiya.' Uncle Jiraiya wrote this?"

"I'll never know why you insist on calling him uncle, but yes. It was his first book, and I think you'll enjoy it."

The white haired child looked at the book again. 'It has many more pages than the others...' She looked up at her father with a smile that was reminiscent of her mother. "Thanks, dad!"

"Your welcome. Come on, it's dinner time, and your mother and sister sent me to find you."

The little girls eyes widened. 'I was so busy looking for a book that I forgot what time it was!' Anza lowered her head in shame. "Sorry…"

"Hey, don't look like it's your fault! You just wanted something to do, and now you have it. Let's just go to the dining room."

"'Kay…" The father-daughter duo left the study and went to where the rest of their family was. When they got there, Anza was given a curious stare by the matriarch of the house, Kushina Uzumaki. She had bright red hair, violet eyes similar to Anza's own, and wore a white blouse under a loose green dress, her usual attire.

"What do you have there? Found a new thing to read?" the redhead said with a happy smile. Her whiskered child could read nearly anything they gave her in only a few days, a much faster pace than her twin, who liked doing the more physical things, like running.

"Yeah! One of Uncle Jiraiya's books!" Anza said as she sat next to her sister, Mito. If one were to look at the two of them, the only differences between them were that Mito had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Minato, and that she didn't have the whiskers that Anza had. She also liked to wear orange as much as possible, to everyone's confusion.

This answer caused Kushina's eyes to widen with horror. "Minato!"

"It's not one of _those_ books, I swear!" The young Hokage looked to his daughter with panic in his normally calm eyes. "Tell her the title, Anza."

"Okay… 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'."

The Uzumaki let a sigh escape from her lips. "Thank Kami. If it was one of his other books, I would have to beat your father into a bloody pulp." Everyone heard Minato gulp, but ignored it. "Anyway, we should eat. It's ramen!"

The twins and their mother dived into their food without another word and started eating like it was going to be their last meal. Minato watched the spectacle with amazement. 'No matter how many times I see it, I'm still fascinated by how much ramen they eat. Is it an Uzumaki thing? I haven't met anyone else that eats just one thing this fast...ah well, I better eat before it gets cold.' The Yellow Flash started eating...just not with the same fervor as female brigade.

**-_later that night: Twins Bedroom_-**

'This...is amazing!' Anza sat on her blood red bed reading her new book, and it simply is the best thing she's read so far.

"We should be getting ready for bed." spoke her sister from her side of the room.

"I know, but I can't put this down!"

"What is it about?" Mito was confused. 'A book can't be _that_ good, can it?'

"I haven't gotten far, but it's about a man named Naruto and his adventures. Ooh, right here, he says : 'I will bring all wars to an end, and give the world peace.' Isn't that cool?"

"All wars? How can one man do that?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" The white haired girl went back to reading.

"Hey, let me see it!" Mito got off her bed, went over to Anza's, plopped down on it, and tried to read it. Luckily, her sister slowed down so that they could read at around the same pace.

**-_an hour of reading later_-**

"Wow, this guy is awesome!" quietly exclaimed Mito. By now, their parents were probably asleep, so they had to be as silent as possible.

"Yeah, he saved some villagers from bandits, helped solve a mystery, and beat an evil shinobi in one on one combat, and we're not even half way through it!"

The blonde took a thinking look on her face, before gaining determination in her eyes. "I have in idea."

"What would that be?"

"Let's be like Naruto, and become ninja!"

Anza's brows furrowed. "I don't know, Mito...it seems like it would be a hard life…"

"Aww, come on! If we become ninja, we would be able to do all the awesome things he can do!"

"Awesome things...like help people...alright, we'll do that, together."

"Yeah! Let's shake on it!" The girls did, and Anza closed the book afterward.

"We need to go to bed, otherwise we'll sleep the day away."

"Right." Mito went back to her blue bed, and got under the covers. "Night."

"Night." The snow haired girl went to sleep, thinking about being in Naruto's place, and one thing in particular. 'Peace…what is it?'

* * *

**(Long A.N. ahead) And I'm back. I have decided to go a slightly different route with this rewrite, so if you want a 'Minato+Kushina abandonment story', sorry. I don't particularly like them, I hated making one, and I have a better way to get to where I want. This will also be...slower than the previous version. If you have read what's in the 'original', you have in idea where I'm going to go. If you have read my final author's note in that one, I will put this out there, I will _not_ be changing up my story again just because I get a constructive review. I changed it hopefully for the better, so we'll see how that goes. I also have to say this so I don't have to mention it later: I can't bring myself to change some characters names, like Mito. I got it from 'The Overlooked Prodigy' by Rookie14, and I grew attached. Kinda like the name of the story, it can't really be called 'Amidst the Hate' until MUCH later, but I have nothing else to call it. So...yeah. Leave reviews when you feel like it, have questions, leave them in those. Will update two a day when a have two to give. Don't own _Naruto_.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 2**

"You can't catch me!" a loud, childish voice yelled from upstairs before a blonde blur rode the rail down.

"I think I will!" shouted another, as the same thing happened, but this time it was white. Anza and Mito had begun doing things like this when they believed themselves alone after making that promise. The twins chased each other around the house for a time until strong hands grabbed their collars while they were passing by the entryway.

"What do you two think you're doing?" said their mother, with Minato and Jiraiya outside.

"Oh, uh...h-hi, mom." stammered out Anza.

"I will repeat: what are you two doing?"

"We're playing ninja!" said the far less reserved Mito.

"What?"

"To be more specific, I'm playing as Naruto, and she's the bad guy. We switch whenever we catch each other." explained the white haired daughter.

"'Naruto'?" asked a confused Jiraiya. 'Isn't that a name from one of my books?'

"Oh, I haven't told you. I gave Anza 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' last week, and they both started reading it. I guess they like it immensely. I told you it was one of your best works." said the Hokage.

"They do?" The toad sage eyed the two girls. "But they're so young! They can't comprehend what it's really about!"

Anza raised her hand. "Um...I do, and I explain it to Mito."

Jiraiya gave her a calculating gaze. "Okay then, what _is_ it about?"

"It's about a shinobi named Naruto who wants to break the cycle of hatred and give peace to the world."

The Sannin gained a momentary look of surprise, but steeled information was for front anyway. "Do you know what the 'cycle of hatred' means?"

"I think so...war, conflict, people betraying others, things like that?"

The sensei of the Yellow Flash couldn't help but be impressed. "She's smart. Smarter than I was at her age, at least."

"My sister is a genius!" boasted Mito, causing Anza to become embarrassed.

"I don't think I can be called a 'genius'..."

"Maybe she's speaking a nugget of truth, Anza. You learned how to read at an earlier age than normal, any math we give you is done correctly and easily, you even learned how to write complete sentences at four. If that isn't extraordinary, I don't know what is." praised her mother.

"Urm…" at this point, Anza couldn't really respond, the praises being too much for her.

"Um...Kushina, are you going to let us in? The sun is rather bright today, and it's my day off, sooo…." said Minato.

"Oh, right! I've been standing in the doorway the entire time." The Uzumaki let go of her daughters, and the family went inside.

* * *

"So, what do you girls want to be when you grow up?" Asked the godfather of the twins as he sat across from them in the living room.

Both of them looked at each other, and called out the same answer. "We want to be ninjas!"

Jiraiya smirked. "Of course you do. It's a life full of wonder, after all!." His usually happy face became cold, scaring the kids just a bit. "You don't even realise what that job asks for, do you?"

"N-no, but they help people, right?" asked Anza.

"You are...partially correct. You see, there's more to it than that."

"What does that mean?" This time Mito asked.

"As a ninja, we do-"

"JIRAIYA. That's not something they need to know right now." said the twins father.

"Wait, what? What do we not need to know right now?" valiantly asked the snow haired one, only to be shot down.

"I'm sorry girls. We'll tell you when you're older." apologized Minato.

This, of course, left the sisters confused, and in a way, scared, for the rest of the day.

**-_nighttime_-**

Anza got up from her comfy bed. 'I can't sleep tonight, that conversation from earlier is too much on my mind.' She noticed that her throat was dry, too. 'I'm thirsty. I'll go get water, then try to go back to bed.' Without making a sound, she snuck out of her shared room, past their parents room, and went down the stairs as stealthily as possible. When she got near the living room, she heard something.

"I can't believe you're still here after that debacle seven years ago." said what could only be her 'uncles' voice.

"If you can't believe it, imagine my surprise when the Shinigami decided to spare my life. I don't think that's happened before!" That was her fathers voice.

"That reminds me...has she shown any signs yet?"

"No, sensei. She hasn't met it yet, and neither do I feel it stirring in her chakra."

"I don't think it will wake up until Mito starts properly using chakra." said her mom.

'What are they talking about? What is 'it'?' Wanting to know why they were talking about her sister in such a secretive manner, she made a choice. She made herself known to the trio. "What's wrong with Mito?"

All three gawked at her with widened eyes. 'We should have talked about this in our room and used silence seals.' thought the Fourth.

"Anza, what are you doing out of bed?" asked Kushina.

"I couldn't sleep, and I needed something to drink, but you haven't answered me. What's wrong with Mito? Is she sick?"

The three shared glances. "She'll know eventually. Might as well tell her now." said Jiraiya.

"Right." Minato sighed. "Anza, you might want to get that drink. We have a story to tell you."

This gave the desired effect. The little girl went to the kitchen, got a glass of water, and took a seat where she could look at her parents and her godfather.

"Okay, have you heard of the attack on Konoha seven years ago? The one by the Kyuubi?"

"Yeah. I also notice it happened on our birthday, October tenth."

"That's because it was orchestrated by some man, one that used the Kyuubi as a weapon."

Anza's purple orbs widened. "How can one man be that powerful? How did he get it?"

"He got the beast from your mother while she was giving birth to you and your sister, and from my experience with him, he seemed to be Madara Uchiha."

"I...I don't know who that is."

"That's fine, you don't need to. Anyway, 'Madara' ripped the Kyuubi out of Kushina, put it under his spell, and I had to fight them both. I defeated him, but the fox was simply too strong. I teleported it away with myself, and there I had to do something I didn't want to do. I had to seal it into someone. I used a special jutsu, the Shiki Fujin, to weaken it enough to seal it inside your sister. This should have killed me, but the death god kept me alive, telling me that not everyone with the knowledge on how to use the seal actually does, so it wanted to see what I do with a second chance on a whim."

Anza looked into her glass, the new information being processed. "So...Mito has a giant fox inside her, and you should be dead?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"...did you _have_ to seal the Kyuubi away? Maybe it wanted to be free."

Startled by the question, it took a while for her father to speak. "I wish I it didn't come to that, but after it was free from the mans control, it still wanted to destroy the village. I had no choice."

"Well, I guess it's okay then. It must be lonely, though, being trapped in someone else…" the young girl trailed off in thought.

Her mother decided to speak. "You are taking this surprisingly well."

"Why shouldn't I be? It doesn't change anything. Mito is still my sister, and dad is here."

They all smiled. "I wish more people accepted jinchuurikis like you just did." said the Hokage.

"Of course I would! As I said, she's my sister, and I still will protect her." The young Namikaze got up, glass in hand, and started making her way out. "I'm going back to bed. Good night." She left, not giving the adults time to say that back.

"That love will help keep the Kyuubi's anger away." commented the previous jinchuuriki.

"Yes it will, that I have no doubts of." murmured Minato.

* * *

**A.N.: Now little Anza knows the secret, and you know why Minato is alive. Cheap, I know, but at this point I don't care anymore. I can't think of any other reason to keep him and Kushina alive. I don't know why I feel the need to put this out there, but don't expect this to be..._too_ good. No experience from writing except for this.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 3**

Anza and Mito were sitting with their godfather, who had to leave in two days to keep up his spy network, and the young children wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before he left for who knows how long.

'Wait, this is a perfect opportunity to ask it!' "Uncle Jiraiya?"

"Yes, Anza?"

"What is peace?"

"Peace...peace is hard to explain when you haven't truly experienced it, but it is a time free of hate and when we're finally free of being afraid of our neighbors."

"Why would we fear our neighbors?" asked Mito.

'How do I explain it without scaring them?' "For example, if we were in a war, some of our friends...might not really be friends and turn on everyone that called them that...just to survive. War and battles born from anger will only lead to bad things."

Anza's head tilted in thought. "So...what you're saying is that if the world had no cause for war, people could get along better, and remain as they are?"

"That...is a surprisingly accurate assumption. You sure you're seven?"

"I was born the same day as Mito and I'm her twin, so yes."

"_(Sigh)_ The joke went over your head."

The blonde giggled. "That's what happens. Despite being smart, she can't tell what's a joke and what's not."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I knew that it was a joke, I just purposefully ruined it."

"That's a lie and you know it!" This caused them to go into a sibling spat, one that involved weak punches, hair pulling, and the occasional insult.

'Well...I don't think I'm needed anymore. Time to get some _research_!' Jiraiya inched his way to the door, but of course he wasn't allowed to leave.

"Where are you going?" asked the white haired twin. They apparently stopped fighting just to find out Jiraiya's plans. "You know we're not suppose to be left alone."

"Oooh, right...since we found you two running around like maniacs, Kushina said you have to be supervised at all times..." 'Well...damn, what do I do now? I guess I _could_ take them with me, but I might not survive the night...ah hell, I _need_ more research!' "I need to go do some _research_, so I guess you have to tag along."

Anza's eyes brightened at the mention of research, not knowing that her godfather wasn't talking about the 'normal' type. "Let's go!"

"It's probably going to be boring. He's just going to watch butterflies or something…" grumbled Mito.

"Look, I can't leave you two alone and I need more material, so you're just going to have to come with me." He wrote down a note saying they were out in Konoha and pretty muched dragged the kids out the door with him.

* * *

"'Konoha...Hot Springs?' What's that, and why are we here?' asked the blue eyed twin.

"This place is the best source of inspiration for me." simply said the toad sage, not really explain 'what' it was. "You two will have to follow me, we need to get to my usual spot." The girls complied, sneaking along with Jiraiya to...a spot behind the women's side?

"Um...Uncle Jiraiya, what kind of research do you do?" Anza was ignored by the perverted man, who had a notepad and pencil out while he looked through a hole in the wooden fence.

"This will always remain the best place for material…" murmured the Sannin while a big smile was plastered on his face.

"Material? For what?"

"For my next book."

"Well, I want to see! If your next book is anything like the one I'm reading, then I want to see the inspriation."

Jiraiya weighed his options. In one hand, he could allow her to look through the hole, but if she told her parents, he would be a very dark smear in their house. In the other, he could stop her from doing so and giving him a few more years at least. The sage went with the later. "Sorry Anza, but I-" he didn't get to finish, since the surprisingly strong girl pushed him out of the way while he wasn't paying attention and was now spying on the women on the other side. 'NOOOO!' There went the rest of his life.

Surprisingly, the girl didn't move an inch after a few minutes.

"Anza?" She turned to him, eyes seemingly just a little smaller.

"I don't get it...it's just women with no clothes..." She went back to looking. Maybe she missed something?

'I think this _might_ have just sent her down the road of perversion...whoops.' He pulled her away from the hole. "I think that's enough." he whispered.

"Yeah…" Anza went back to her sister, who was confused about the entire thing.

"What were you looking at?"

"I...I don't really know…well, I do know...but why would he be looking at _that_?" was the vague reply. 'This is never going to leave me alone, is it?'

**-_later, back at the Namikaze Household_-**

"So where were you three?" asked Kushina. She left for some ingredients, and when she got home, it turns out that no one was there.

"Oh, we just walked around the village, went to some landmarks, normal things. The twins wanted wanted some ramen before coming home, so we stopped by Ichiraku's. Don't worry, it was only two bowls at most." expertly lied Jiraiya, but today just wasn't his day.

"No we didn't! We just hung around some place that had steam coming from the water around it. We _did_ get ramen though." said Mito.

Kushina knew only one place in the village with that description. "The hot springs? Why were you there?" The Uzumaki was fearing the worst.

"Uncle Jiraiya said something about research, but I don't know what he meant. He was looking through a hole, and Anza wanted to know what he was looking at, so she pushed him out of the way. She's been quiet ever since."

The mother of the two girls looked at Jiraiya with unbridled anger in her eyes. "You have two seconds to explain yourself."

"I-I needed more stuff for my next book! You know how much my stories make!"

"But you couldn't wait until _after_ I got home to go do your _research_?"

"...no?"

"Girls, go to your room."

"What? Why?" asked the blonde.

"Just do it. I don't want you to see this."

The girls decided to follow orders and went to their shared room, where they heard their godfather's screams of pain for the next few minutes...and what sounded like a now broken front door.

* * *

**A.N.: Is it too much to believe that the twins have never been to the hot springs until just then? Explaining someone's version of 'peace' is hard, especially since I don't really know what Jiraiyas is, but I tried. Things will get more interesting soon...well, as interesting as this can get when your protagonists are only seven.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 4**

Mito started to stir in her nice, soft bed. Her eyes flickered open, before being forcefully closed. 'I don't wanna get up...it's too early...' Eventually though, she sat up and looked at the alarm clock. 'Seven? Why, body?' She looked over at her sister, who was asleep face first in that book. 'She read it all night? Aw, she's so far ahead of me now...' The blonde left the room as quietly as possible to not disturb her twin, and headed downstairs to see if anyone was up. She past the now repaired door that was broken when her mother sent Jiraiya flying a few weeks ago. No wonder he left ahead of schedule.

"Oh hey, Mito. You're up earlier than normal." stated her father as he sat reading.

"Dad? You have a day off?"

"Today's Saturday, remember? I always get that day off unless paperwork is backed up or it's an emergency."

"Oh...right." Mito went to the kitchen, got some cereal, and sat down with Minato. After awhile of eating, Kushina came down from upstairs, presumably just getting out of the shower, if that lavender smell was anything to go by.

"Your sister's still asleep?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think she stayed up reading 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', but I don't know how long exactly."

Minato couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "She really loves reading. I can't believe you two haven't finished it yet."

"That's my fault...if she didn't have to explain some of it, we would be done by now..."

"Don't blame yourself. From what I've seen, she enjoys reading with you...actually, she enjoys doing _everything_ with you." Minato stopped reading and put his hand around his chin, as if in thought. "That reminds me, we should start training you two. You're old enough now."

Mito smiled, but that was soon replaced with a frown. "I would like training separate from Anza."

The adults looked at her with owlish expressions. "Why?" asked Kushina.

"She always helps me with anything, and I don't want to rely on her."

Minato figured out what his daughter was saying. "You think that if you train together your styles would compliment each other too much when you might not even be on the same team, and that she would be your go to for explanations instead of your superiors."

The child looked confused for a moment, but went with what her father said. "Yeah. That."

"_(Sigh)_ That is a good idea, but I don't think Anza would be happy about it."

"I know...but it would help her. _I_ could help _her_ for a change."

The fastest man in the world thought for several minutes. 'Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?' "Fine. Once you're done eating, we'll start teaching you the basics of being a ninja."

"But I haven't eaten yet!"

"You _and_ your mother."

**-_three hours later_-**

Anza groggily picked her head off her not-so-soft pillow. 'Did I fall asleep reading? I hope the pages aren't ruined...' She looked over 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi', and found that she didn't drool on the words. 'Uh, what time is it?' She spied the clock. 'Ten? I was up that late?' The snow haired girl turned to Mito's bed, but didn't see her. 'I guess she's up. It's a sad day, when _I_ wake up later than her...' Getting out of bed, she naturally went downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast.

Sitting down at the table after getting food, Anza noticed something. "Where is everyone?" She hadn't heard anyone on the way down, no one was at the dining room, so where were they? 'Did they leave me here alone? No...me and Mito are still not allowed to be left alone...are they outside?' Looking through the window in the room, she spotted them. Her parents and sister were near a tree doing...something. 'I should go see.' The young girl stopped eating, much to her stomachs disagreement, and went to get her answer.

Once getting in speaking distance, she asked: "What's going on?"

Her family turned at her voice. "Oh, Anza, you're up." said her sister.

Anza noticed that Mito was holding a leaf. "Again, what's going on?"

"Anza, your mother and I have decided to start training you and Mito. We were going to teach you both at the same time, but your sister objected." filled in Minato.

Now the whiskered girl was confused. "Objected? To what?"

Before Minato could explain, the blue eyed twin took over. "I don't want your help while training."

This...did not sit well with the other twin. "W-why? You've never _not_ wanted my help…"

"It would be best if we learn separately. We can't become reliant on each other."

"But I can help you understand the subjects you have trouble with!"

"But that's what mom and dad are here for."

Anza hung her head in defeat. "Fine...I'll leave. You don't need me anymore." Her tone became slightly bitter, and she started marching back to the house.

Minato looked at her. 'That wasn't one of their normal 'fights'...I have to do something.' "Kushina, take over for a bit." His wife understood what he was going to do, and nodded. The Yellow Flash went after his daughter, but she wasn't in the dining room, like he believed. "Anza?" he called out. No response. "Anza!" He checked every room, but the little girl wasn't anywhere. 'Damn, she must have left the house. I have to find her!' How far could she have possibly gone, anyway?

* * *

'Stupid Mito...doesn't realize I have to stay by her side…' mentally grumbled Anza. Despite not having a single second of training, she was rather fast thanks to chasing her even faster sister, and was now somewhere in the middle of Konoha. 'Fine! If she doesn't want me to train with her, I'll find someone else to train with! And a different teacher!' She stomped around while going through her brain for people that could fit the bill. 'There is Kakashi, but I don't think he would be good at teaching me anything. Tsunade? I haven't seen her in a while, but she's a Sannin, so I don't think I can survive that training. She also drinks a lot. Um...Uncle Jiraiya? No...I already covered that...' Anza stopped walking. 'That leaves...no one. Huh, this is harder than I thought.'

"Hey, where are your parents?" asked a male voice from behind her. She turned, and saw a man with short, spiky black hair and black eyes wearing a black colored outfit with a high collar. There was a brown harness over his clothes that held a tanto on his back. "Oh! You're Anza Namikaze. Sorry for not recognizing you."

'An...Uchiha? I only know of two...Mikoto and Sasuke…' "It's fine...but who are you?"

"Shisui Uchiha. Now, could you tell me why you are not with your parents?"

"I needed someone to train me, so I left the house."

"Why would _you _of all people need training? Shouldn't your father be doing that?"

Anza looked at the ground. "My sister doesn't want me to train with her and my parents seemingly agree, so I wanted a better teacher."

Shisui looked at the young girl. 'What should I do? I haven't taken up the Anbu offer, but I don't think she can find anyone else to train her if she won't let her parents do it. The stares alone are enough of that...it must be because of that rumor...' It's true. Ever since the young Namikazes were born, there was a rumor that one of them was taken over by the spirit of the Kyuubi after it's death and that it was pretending to be one of them. It wasn't a very popular rumor, for obvious reasons, but seeing those whiskers... 'Sorry, Itachi, it looks like I'm not joining.' "I'm only a chunin, but I could help you out if you want."

Anza looked up with widened eyes. "You will?"

"Yeah." He crouched down. "Here. Get on my back, we're going to a training ground that I like to use." The ecstatic seven year old did so, and they left the confines of the village.

* * *

"Shisui...is this…?" said another boy who wore his jet black hair in a pony tail as he stared at the new arrivals. He wore clothes similar to Shisui, he even had a tanto in the same place. The most prominent features on his handsome face were tear troughs and black eyes.

"Yes, Itachi. This is little Anza Namikaze." He let aforementioned girl down from her place on his back.

"Why did you bring her here?"

"She said she wanted training, and I decided I wanted to train her."

"Shisui, you know you can't be a sensei until after you become a jonin. You are breaking many rules."

"Yeah, but technically she's not a genin. I also think it would be better to teach some of my skills to someone instead of using them on _those_ missions."

"Hmm...maybe." The prodigy of the Uchiha clan looked at Anza. "You haven't said anything since you got here, just staring at me."

"Y-you're Anbu Captain Itachi! I've heard of you from mom and dad, but I didn't think I'd actually meet you."

"That's right...mother would sometimes go over to your house with Sasuke." He bowed. "It's nice to meet you. My brother speaks highly of you and Mito."

Anza mirrored the action. "Likewise. Sasuke's a nice guy." She turned to her new sensei. "So, what am I learning first?"

"Oh...um...I'm not sure." Shisui rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I don't really know how to teach."

"It looks like I have something to do now." spoke the reserved Uchiha. "I will assist you in this endeavor, Shisui."

"You will? But I thought you had important duties as captain?"

"I will only help when I'm off duty and Sasuke doesn't require my assistance for the day."

"You know, you could bring him here with you and we can train them both."

"Hmm...he always asks that I teach him something, and it would let us spend more time with one another before I have to go on long missions...I think I'll do that."

"So I'll have two teachers?! And a sparring partner?!" _Now_ Anza was excited.

"Essentially, if things go according to plan." said Itachi. He went over to one of the trees, plucked a leaf, and handed it over to the girl. "Try to make this stick to your forehead. Only use your chakra."

"Okay!" She did as asked, but with no experience with chakra she failed to have it stick. 'This is going to take a while...'

**-_two hours later_-**

"Hey! Look!" The leaf she was using was now stuck to head, but as soon as she said that, it fell off. "Awww…"

"Very good!" congratulated Shisui. 'It's one of the easier exercises, but she's getting it rather fast.'

"Very good? But it didn't stay on long…"

"That maybe so, but I couldn't do it until I was in the Academy, so you are making good progress. Right Itachi?"

"He is correct." was all he said.

"Anza?" a familiar voice said from nearby. The trio looked at where it came from, and there stood the Fourth Hokage. "What are you doing here?"

"I found trainers."

Minato's blue orbs widened. "You got _Itachi_ as a teacher?!"

"That is correct, Lord Hokage, but I am not her main teacher. Shisui is."

Minato gazed at the other Uchiha. "Shunshin no Shisui? _You _wanted to teach Anza?"

"Yep! She told me about what happened with her sister, and I just couldn't let her not be trained."

"We were going to train her, though...one day would be Mito, the next Anza." He looked at his daughter, who was still trying to stick the leaf on her forehead. "Are you sure you don't want Kushina and I to train you?"

"Yes. Mito doesn't want me to help her, so I will learn a completely different set of skills!"

"_(Sigh)_ Okay. I won't argue if that's what you desire. Come home in a few hours, all right?"

"I will. Thank you for understanding, dad." The young Hokage left after that, both to tell that he did _not_ lose her, and that she was in capable hands in terms of training.

* * *

**A.N.: Yep. Anza gets both Shisui _and_ Itachi as teachers. If Mito gets two highly qualified trainers, then so should Anza! I know that canon Itachi never really 'trained' (unless you mean 'making Sasuke go down the road of jerkassery') canon Sasuke, but that changes in here, at least somewhat. Oh, and I am not going to split between Anza and Mito's training sessions. They are learning pretty much the same things, so it's not needed. Hm...I seem to have made a habit of Minato appearing near Anza and asking what she's doing...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 5**

"So...where were you, young lady?!" rather loudly asked Kushina to Anza. She just got back from her first day of training, and she still couldn't get that damn leaf to stick...for long, anyway.

The white haired girl looked at her father. "You didn't tell them?"

"I told your mother and sister that I found you and that you were in capable hands. I figured it would be best if _you_ told the specifics."

"Thanks." she said in a sarcastic tone. Turning to her mother, she told her the story of what happened after she left the house.

"So you ran around Konoha without anyone watching over you, met Shisui and Itachi, and somehow got them both as senseis."

"I just said that, yes."

"...but I wanted to teach you the jutsus of our clan…" lamented the redhead.

"It doesn't matter now, focus on teaching that to Mito." The eldest daughter turned back to her father. "Can I go into your study? I want to try something."

"Um...okay...but you don't really need to ask."

"I know, but I wanted to." She left her parents, and went to her destination.

'Still looks the same...okay, what did I learn today? Focusing chakra into a point to make things stick? I saw dad do something to make that drawer open...did he put chakra into it? Can I do that?' Going over to the drawers, she went to the one that she had trouble with before and put a hand on the strange symbol. 'Focus...focus chakra into your hand…' The symbol glowed, and she was now able to open the empty drawer. 'I figured it out...but that was hard...I need more training.' Looking at one on the wall, she decided to do the same thing. Surprisingly, smoke appeared, and she now had a book in her hand. It was smaller than 'The Gutsy Shinobi', and was called 'Training Genin for Beginners', by Hiruzen Sarutobi. 'That's right...dad had a genin team, so of course he wanted to be prepared. Heh, Shisui will love this!' She went back downstairs victorious, book in hand. "Look what I-" her words died in her throat, seeing _her_. "Mito."

The blonde twin was now sitting with their parents, hair still a little wet from getting out of the shower. "Oh, hey Anza!" she said in her usual cheery voice. "Where did you go earlier? Dad didn't return until just a few hours ago, and you weren't with him."

'Is...is she oblivious? Oblivious that I'm not happy with her right now?' "You want to know, ask them. I'm going to our room, I'll be down for dinner." She added that last part for her parents, and went back upstairs.

Mito stared at where her twin was just standing with a sad look. "She always wants to talk to me...is she that mad?"

"Yeah. She doesn't even want to learn from us just because you asked to be trained separately. I think you hurt her rather badly, Mito." said Minato.

"But that wasn't what I wanted...it was suppose to be good for us both…"

"I know you had good intentions...but I think you went about it the wrong way. Now that I can think it over, you probably should have talked to her about it first instead of just up and asking us not to train you with her."

"What can I do to make her not hate me?"

Kushina decided to take over from here. "She doesn't hate you, Anza's just angry. Apologizing might be a good start."

The girl nodded. "I'll do that at dinner then."

"Good. I don't want this house to have such serious tension. It isn't healthy."

**-_later_-**

The Namikaze family and Kakashi sat at the dinner table. The Anbu member visited rather regularly after almost losing his sensei, and became a brother in the eyes of the twins. No matter how hard he tried, being around the girls made him lose some of his bitterness and gain happiness again.

'Strange...why isn't Anza sitting with Mito?' thought the Hokage's student as he looked at the whiskered one. She was sitting with him, leaving the blonde all alone at her spot. "What happened?" he asked her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kakashi noticed that Mito flinched a bit.

"I know you're lying."

Before Anza could respond, her sister spoke. "I'm sorry for going behind your back...please don't hate me anymore…"

'What happened today? The're usually on such good terms...' wondered the silver haired man, but he didn't have to wonder for long.

"I was hoping you wouldn't mention this until after Kakashi left or we went to bed, but you did…" the snow haired girl sighed. "I don't hate you. I _can't_ hate you, you're my sister...but I am angry at you, _very_ angry. For so long you've always wanted my help, and then one day you just don't want it anymore? Fine, I'll respect your wishes. Seven years of growing up together, and now you don't need me." She finished up her food in a rapid pace, and got up to leave. On her way out, she threw one last comment over her shoulder. "Don't come running to me when you have nightmares about the Kyuubi sealed inside you."

"ANZA!" yelled out her parents, while Kakashi's lone eye widened.

'They TOLD her? And she would just reveal it without their consent?' He eyed the lone twin, who now had a look of confusion.

"The Kyuubi? Why would I have nightmares about it?" she looked at Minato and Kushina. "And what did she mean 'sealed'? Isn't it dead?"

The Uzumaki took a deep breath. 'Damn it, Anza...' "We didn't want to tell you until you either were a genin or you started having dreams about it...Mito, the Kyuubi wasn't killed by your father. That was just a story we told the rest of the world so that we could protect you. You are a jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi's third." It was technically true...she is the third jinchuuriki of one half, instead of the whole thing, but they weren't going to tell her about that. She only needed to worry about the one that she has.

Mito looked down at her food. "W-what does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything, except that you will need to find ways to repress it's influence. It is a dark creature, and will do anything to get out."

"So...how do I do that?"

Kushina couldn't help but have flashbacks. 'She's behaving just like I did when I was set to become the next jinchuuriki. I will forever be grateful for my clansmen's advice.' "You must fill yourself with love." She smiled a bit. "That shouldn't be too hard."

The blonde quit staring at her unfinished meal and gained a big grin. "Yeah! I have you, dad, Kakashi, and Anza!"

The cyclops eye-smiled. 'Despite being in a bad situation with her sister and learning about the tailed beast inside of her, she's still her happy and optimistic self...I don't think there's anyone else like her.'

The rest of dinner was ate in relative silence.

**-**_**bedtime-**_

Anza was facing the wall, reading 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. She was getting close to the end and wanted to finish it soon, otherwise she might get distracted thinking about what may happen next while in training, but something wasn't sitting well with her at the moment. 'Why did I say that at dinner? The Kyuubi is too strong for her to handle, and I just told her I won't be there for her when it decides to wake up... I should apologize, but that doesn't excuse her actions! She didn't consider what I wanted, just her!'

The sound of the door opening disturbed her thoughts, and she turned to see Mito. 'Of course. It _is_ time for bed, anyway.'

"Hey."

"Hey_..._look, I'm sorry for saying that back there. I may be mad at you, but saying that I won't help you with the Kyuubi is too f-" she wasn't able to complete her sentence, since her twin tackled her.

"You don't need to be sorry, I should be the sorry one! You just want to protect me from it, and I pushed you away!"

"It's more than that...you didn't talk to me about the training thing, and that hurt."

"I know...but can you forgive me, the idiot?"

Anza just stared at her sister. 'Why? Why can't I stay mad at her?' "_(Sigh)_ Just don't do it again."

"Deal!"

"...you can get off me now."

"Nope!"

So despite Anza's pleas, they fell asleep on the floor, which is NOT as comfortable as you may believe.

* * *

**A.N.: Well, Mito knows about her status now, too. I think this chapter has a lesson: don't give secrets to Anza, she'll just blurt them out when she's angry. Not going to lie, I don't think this was a very good chapter...but then again, I don't think _anything_ I do is good, for some reason.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 6**

"Awww, I hoped Itachi would be here too..." said Anza upon getting to her training ground, number fourteen. Her new sensei was sitting patiently for her.

"Sorry, he had a mission..." Shisui stood up. "...so I will be responsible for all your training for the day."

"Okay." She was about to get another leaf, but she remembered something that was more important. "Oh! Shisui-sensei, I got something for you!" She fished through the bag she brought, took out the 'Training Genin for Beginners', and gave it to the Uchiha.

"Hm? A book?" Reading the name, it was obvious what it was for. "Oh, sweet! This will help immensely! Thank you, my student! Now, I'll start reading it. You continue trying to stick a leaf to your head, and I'll let you know when we'll start doing something else."

"Will do!" She plucked out a leaf, and resumed the exercise. 'I AM going to get this down! I must!'

**-_a couple hours later_-**

"Okay Anza, time to stop." The young girl did so, and checked how long she had the leaf stuck _this_ time.

'Um...maybe thirty minutes? I don't know, I lost count, but I should probably pay attention' "Yes, sensei?"

"After reading a few passages in this book, I decided that I should start teaching you some taijutsu. Do you have any experience in that?"

"No, but I do know that it basically means hand-to-hand combat."

"Okay then." He took his clans stance, and turned on his Sharingan. "Come at me. I want to see what you unconsciously do."

Anza didn't. Instead, she stared at his eyes. "What's wrong with your eyes? Why did they turn red?"

Shisui was taken aback at this. "W-what?! You don't know about the Sharingan?"

"No...should I? If it has something to do with being an Uchiha, I haven't studied on the clans in Konoha yet, so I wouldn't know."

"W-well, with it I can see any attack in slow motion, allowing me to predict where it's going. It can also point out flaws in taijutsu if I so happen to know the style, and memorize nearly any movements."

The little Namikaze's eyes seemed to sparkle. "That's so cool! Can I get something like that?"

The new sensei had to smile at her. 'And here I was thinking she had no semblance of being a child.' "Unless you come from a clan with a dojutsu, then no. Sorry."

"Aww…"

"We need to get back on track. Come on, come at me!" This time, Anza charged at Shisui, and swung at...the left side of his ribs? 'Interesting...she seems to know where to hit where it would hurt most...' He dodged the attack, and saw every opening that she left. 'I could knock her to the ground easily...but I don't think that would be a good start for us. Let's see...can she block?' The Uchiha made a lazy attempt to 'hit' the girl, but he got a surprise. The Namikaze grabbed the offending arm, effectively stopping it, and tried to punch Shisui with her free hand. But he wasn't a trained shinobi for nothing, and easily blocked it. 'With no prior training, she's learning how to fight...by fighting! No pointers, no help, nothing!' They were in a 'stalemate' now, the girl seemingly trying to find a way to get past his guard. "Hey, don't just stop! I won't actually hit you, but you _can_ hit me." He smirked. "You know, if you can keep up."

"I'll show you!" Despite her shorter stature, she let go of the arm she was holding and tried to head-butt him, which caused him to jump back.

"Woah now, none of that. Just punches and kicks. I still need more data on you."

"Fine." She came at him again, and aimed at his right knee with a sloppy kick.

'Okay, she likes going after weak spots. Good to know.' He jumped over it, causing her to lose her balance momentarily before continuing with a right jab to his face. 'Right handed. Makes sense.' Moving his head to the side, he thought he dodged it, but she moved the entire arm in the same direction. Shisui ducked, but her other hand started moving towards his head. 'I like this. Making them believe that they successfully dodged, then hit them with an unnoticed attack, but rather hard to do with pure taijutsu. Need some more speed so I don't get a broken nose...' Faster than Anza could see, he moved behind her. "That was good. Come on, try again."

The pair went at this for maybe thirty more minutes. Anza attacked as furiously as her tiny body could while trying to defend against any hits that would have hit her if they were in a real spar, succeeding less than half the time. Shisui was impressed though. He personally didn't know anyone that could improve their style while not knowing what to improve on. Well, besides _all_ of it, which she had to...but that's beside the point! At the end, the girl was panting and more tired than she ever thought she'd be.

"Okay, we should take a break." he advised, not an ounce of sweat on his face.

"Y-yeah…" Anza went over to her bag and picked out a water bottle. 'I knew it was a good idea to bring this.' She sat down on the ground and waited for her energy to come back.

Her new sensei decided to sit next to her. "You're pretty good for someone who knows nearly nothing about taijutsu. How'd you know where to hit me?"

"'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' has rather detailed fights. Using that, it wasn't that hard to apply that to you, but you are just too fast."

"And how do you have so much stamina? Most kids your age wouldn't be able to fight that long."

"Try chasing and being chased by your faster sister around the house for a few weeks."

Shisui nodded. "I can see how that would work." They sat in silence for a few minutes. 'Eh, I might as well get to know her. She _is_ my student now, after all.' "What is your favorite thing to do at home, if I may ask?"

"That depends. I like to read when I'm bored, but I prefer spending time with my family."

"Okay...what is your favorite book?"

"'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'."

"Why would that be?"

"You might not believe me, but the main character's dream. He wants the world to live in peace, and will fight for that future."

"Peace, huh?"

"Yep! It sounds wonderful, too. A time where no one has to fear each other, no suffering...I want that."

The Uchiha stared at her with his now onyx eyes. 'Itachi, I think you are going to like this girl.' "You want to work for peace?"

"Yeah...I do. It's strange being so young, yet knowing what I want to do with my life."

"Are you sure about that? It could change as time goes on."

"It could change, but I don't think it will." She downed the last bit of water in the bottle, and looked to the sky. "Is it time to continue?"

"Yeah, but enough about taijutsu today. I'm going to show you a new exercise, one that's very important." He took her to one of the bigger trees. "Okay, what you need to do is to coat the bottoms of your feet with just enough chakra and walk up this tree here. Might want to start out barefoot, though. It's harder to force chakra through your shoes."

Anza followed the advice, and was given a kunai. "Why did you give me this, sensei?"

"It's for you to mark your progress. Every time you feel yourself about to fall, you nick the tree, and then you try to surpass the height you made it too. Don't expect yourself to be able to master this as young as you are. Really, you shouldn't even be _attempting_ this until you become a genin, but it's best to at least have an idea on what you will be doing in the future."

"Right. Well, I'm going to do my best!"

She spent the rest of her training session failing this exercise, not even being able to take two steps on the bark.

* * *

**A.N.: I hope I did the *ahem* 'fight' all right, but with her being seven...there's not much I can do with my minimal amount of battle writing. If you don't think a seven year old can figure out what they want to do in life...*I point in Itachi's direction* This guy wanted peace for the whole world at her age.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 7**

"I hate trees..." grumbled Anza as she layed on her bed. Mito was in a similar position, being tired after today's training. The twins had been training for a few months now, and they were nearing their birthday.

"I hate that tree in the backyard...it mocks me."

"I take it we're in the same spots in training?"

"If you mean 'have I failed trying to walk on a tree many times', then yes." Mito, starting to feel her eyes drooping, sat up. "What does Shisui and Itachi teach you, anyway?"

"Itachi-sensei teaches me how to keep calm and how to concentrate chakra to different parts of my body, but that doesn't help me with the tree climbing exercise much. Shisui-sensei mainly teaches me taijutsu when he's not letting me try walking on trees."

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki chuckled. "I guess there's not much that can be taught to us. We're only seven."

"Not for much longer. We'll be eight in two weeks."

"Oh, right! I...kinda forgot." Mito rubbed the back of her head, not that Anza noticed. "Um...what are you hoping to get on our birthday?"

"Really? I don't care. I have all that I want."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah. I have mom and dad's love, two great teachers, you as a sister, and I have plenty of books."

"But don't you...want a harder book? We've finished 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' a while ago, but you keep rereading it."

"That's because I want to see how I can give peace to the world. I don't know who else would take such a hard challenge, so I will." Anza finally sat up, and looked at her twin. "I want the world to not have to suffer from hopeless battles that are started over stupid reasons." She smiled a small smile. "I think Itachi is rubbing off on me...I asked him what his dream was, and he wants the same thing. He's seen the things war brings, so he knows first hand."

Mito stared at her sister with sad eyes. 'She's acting like she's an adult...she doesn't need to.' "Please, stop thinking of those things for now. We're not even in the academy, so don't worry about 'peace' and 'ending all conflicts' yet."

"_(Sigh)_ You're right. I should enjoy being a kid while it lasts." She looked at the alarm clock. "There's still enough time…" Anza got off the bed, and proceeded to leave the room.

"Hey, wait for me!" the non whiskered twin ignored her fatigue and trailed after her sister. They went downstairs and to the living room, where a bored Kushina sat watching TV.

"Mom, can we go to the library?" asked the white haired daughter.

"That's a new one...why do you want to go there?"

"I keep forgetting about it, but there's something I need to check, and it _might_ be there."

"Okay, we'll go in a few minutes. Mito, do you want to come with?"

"Yes! There's nothing else to do, anyway."

**-_later, Konoha Library_-**

"Woah...I've never seen so many books…" murmured Anza upon entering the rather massive library. 'There seems to be a book on everything in here!'

"What did you expect? It's the village's only library." said the twins mother.

"Yeah, but it looks like you could get lost trying to find what you want in this place." said Mito.

"Well, there are marks saying what each section is, like if the books there are in the 'A's or 'B's. Follow those, and you can't get lost."

"Okay, but what is the second floor for, mom?" the whiskered one pointed up, and there indeed was a second level.

"I think that part is for the shinobi and kunoichi of the leaf. You won't be able to go up there yet."

"Got it." Anza took off for whatever she was looking for.

"I wonder what's got her so excited…" murmured Kushina.

* * *

'Cs...cs….where are the cs?' The purple eyed child of the Hokage had been wandering around for what seemed like hours, but she just couldn't find the damn Cs!

"Anza?" said a young childs voice. Anza stopped looking at the sides with letters and turned to face the speaker, a boy around her age with blue-tinted black hair wearing an Uchiha style high collared outfit. "You're looking for a book too?"

"Hey, Sasuke! You got your mom to take you here?

"No, my father, but do you need help?"

"Actually, yes. I have no idea where the 'C's are, and I need to find something on all of Konoha's clans."

"Well, I know where the 'C's are, but I'm not sure it would hold information on clans. Follow me." Sasuke lead her to the right section, and the girl was horrified.

"It...it will take forever to find it!" There was an entire two walls just for 'C's!

"Yeah...we should get an adults help."

"No. I just want to see if something's possible, and I don't want mom to know right now. It will make it look like I don't want to know about the other half of my heritage."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's search."

It took a while, but Shisui's student finally found the book she was looking for...and it was _massive_.

"'Clans of the World: Volume Fifty Three: Konoha Edition'? I...guess it will do." She put the thing down on one of the nearby tables, sat down, and flipped to the index, looking for the one clan that would help her find what she wanted. "Ah ha! Uchiha-page 628!" She went to the page, and skimmed through most of it. 'Known for the Sharingan, the clan's dojutsu...helped found Konohagakure...other clans with dojutsu...wait...what's this? Namikaze? It's a clan? And it has a dojutsu?! Okay, page 341.' She nearly teared the book apart looking for that page, getting the young Uchiha's attention.

"Uh...you found what you're looking for?"

"Yep!" She read through it all, and what she found was astonishing.

_'Originally, the Namikaze's were just ten Uchiha that followed Madara's example and left Konohagakure, feeling that they were oppressed by the Senju. Hashirama, who had just fought Madara to the death, let them do so without any trouble. They took residence in a nearby town and mixed with the locals, giving birth to rather ordinary children with seemingly next to no potential to use a __Sharingan__, but that can't be confirmed since they are extremely hostile to anyone from the hidden village from which they came. The only notable example of this clan in recent history is Minato, the reigning Hokage. Known for the __legendary Hiraishin __that has only been used by one other, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, he is the only one of his clan to return to Konoha._'

Anza almost giggled in excitement. 'Why didn't dad tell us we had a dojutsu _and_ that were related to one of the founding clans? Oh, I know what I'm doing when he gets home!' She was about to close the book, but she hesitated. 'What about mom's clan? The Uzumaki? Well...it would be the perfect time to look, despite that I only wanted the one thing...' The young girl went back to the index. 'Last page in the 'U's, huh?' She went to it.

'_The Uzumaki's were distant relatives of the Senju, co-founders of Konohagakure. They were known for their talent in fuinjutsu, with no other clan comparing to their skill in the art, their rapid healing prowess, and the fiery red hair that nearly every member had. Their talent was the cause of their destruction in the Second Shinobi World War, with their ally Konohagakure being unable to save them from the combined onslaught of multiple countries. There is only one known left in the world: Kushina Uzumaki, wife of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze_. _She came to Konoha only a few weeks before her homeland, the Land of Whirlpools, was annihilated._ _Before their near extinction, they never told the specifics of their fuinjutsu or if they had any other special abilities, and those secrets will presumably die with Kushina._'

This time, she closed the book. 'Moms...moms clan is...dead? We were eliminated...just because we had talent? How…how DARE THEY...there…there could've been kids who didn't even know what was happening...and...and they _butchered _them...' She squeezed her hands to the point that she felt as if she was going to start bleeding and stood up. "Sasuke...I'm done here."

The boy, who was reading something of interest, whipped his head to her direction. "What? But you just got what you were looking for."

"I know...but...I don't want to read it anymore." Her voice became rather sad, something which the Uchiha registered.

"Oh...okay. I...I'll see you when Itachi returns."

"Yeah...have a good day. Tell your mom I said 'hi'." The white haired girl hurried to find her mother.

**-_meanwhile, same place_-**

"Have you found anything yet, Mito?"

"No...there just isn't anything I want to read." The mother-daughter duo had at first split up, but Mito got lost and found Kushina instead. They have looked through three sections so far, and no books sounded good to either of them.

"I wonder what's taking your sister so long?" wondered Kushina.

"Maybe she got lost like I did? This place is a maze if you haven't been here before…"

"I hope not...I can't find her as easily as I can you. Hm...let's just go to the entrance. Maybe she's already found what she's looking for and is waiting for us?"

"Yes! I can't wait to get out of here and not be confused!"

After a few minutes of navigation, they found the entrance, but no Anza in sight. "Okay, where could she be?"

"I-_(huff,huff)_-I'm here." They turned to see their quarry slightly out of breath, but she soon regained her composure. "I want to leave."

"Did you find it?" asked Mito.

"Yeah...sadly, I looked up too much."

"What do you mean?" This time it was their mother.

"I...I don't want to talk about it here. Can we please just go home?"

Kushina saw the sad look in her daughter's eyes...and something else. 'Anger? What did she find?' "Sure, let's go."

**-_a few hours later: Namikaze Household_-**

It was just a normal family dinner at the Namikaze's. The special today was ramen, and everyone was digging in, including the drop-in Kakashi. Well, everyone excluding Anza. This worried her father.

"Anza, what's wrong? You usually have most of the bowl eaten by now, so something's up."

"I found out some things today...like how me and Mito belong to two clans."

Minato nearly choked on his noodles, causing his silver haired student to freak out before being waved off. "H-how did you find out?"

"Library." she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why didn't you tell us about them, or about our dojutsu?"

"Dojutsu?" asked the other twin, but she was ignored at the moment.

"_(Sigh)_ Because I...had a falling out with my parents and was cast out when I desired to become a shinobi of Konoha. 'Don't come back, you filthy traitor' was their last words to me, and I never went back. I didn't even know what they meant until I got here."

"Do...do you have a Sharingan?"

"No, but I think my mother did. I vaguely recall glowing red eyes, but it's been years."

"I'm...sorry if bringing it up brings back bad memories, but I had to know."

"No, no, don't apologize. You had the right to know, and I was too much a coward to tell you two."

Anza brightened up a little. "Coward? You fought one of the founders and the Kyuubi...and _won_. You can't be called a coward."

The Fourth smiled at his daughter's praise. "Thanks...now get to eating. I don't want you to go hungry."

"On it." The rest of dinner went smoothly and happily.


	8. Chapter 8

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 8**

It is October tenth, the Namikaze twins birthday, and both girls were content with sleeping it away. Their mother wasn't.

"Hey. It's time to wake up." Kushina went to both beds and nudged them, but it did nothing. "Hey! It's your birthday!" This time, she got a reaction out of Mito.

"Five...five more...minutes…" she sleepily groaned, and turned over to face the wall.

'I guess I have no choice. Good thing Minato is already up.' She went over to the curse of mankind and rose the volume of the alarm to it's highest point. She set it to go off in two minutes, and plugged her ears.

'BEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEE-_(crack)_' It was silenced by the combined might of the sisters, whose eyes were twitching.

"You forced my hand." simply said the mother. 'Now we need another one...'

"I...hate those things. Alarms and trees...hate them both…" groggily said Anza.

"Is it our birthday _already_?" asked Mito.

"Yep. Now, get your butts downstairs. You need breakfast."

"Yes, ma'am." They followed her to the dining room, where they sat down with their father, who didn't have to go to work. Hiruzen always took over for him on this particular day, saying he should be there for his daughters' birthday. Minato wasn't going to say 'no' to that.

"Hey girls. Did you get enough sleep? It looks like you didn't."

The twin's looked at him with their half closed eyes. "Dad...we know you must have heard the alarm go off. Don't be that guy...or do you want me to give you more paperwork for when you go back?" threatened the purple eyed one.

Minato's face became one of horror. "You wouldn't…"

"We both now she can, dad. She's the smart one, afterall."

"Okay, okay, sorry. I was just trying to make a joke."

"Try making them in an hour."

In a bit, Kushina finished making the food, which was an unusual meal in the Land of Fire: pancakes, bacon, eggs, and a bowl of ramen, which confused the _shit_ out of the Fourth.

'I-I don't get it...when did ramen become a breakfast food?! WHEN?!' He was the only one to question it though, since the girls were already eating it all up. 'Ugh...It doesn't matter, I'm hungry.'

**-_after breakfast_-**

"So...what do you two want to do today?" asked Minato.

Anza took a thinking pose. "Um...I got nothing. I haven't really thought about it since I've been focusing on training. Mito, do you have any ideas?"

"I'm in the same boat as you, so nope."

"Well...how about we go to the book store?"

Mito seemed to start think about it, but her sister was shaking her head. "I don't know about her, but _I_ don't want a new book right now. I have to figure out how to walk on trees first."

"I should have figured, you have been going on about 'burning down all trees' for months now." He turned to the still thinking twin. "What about you?"

"Hmm...sure, why not?"

"That means I have to come with." grumbled the whiskered daughter.

"Yes, since Kushina doesn't want the family to split up for the day. Don't worry, we'll be back home in an hour or so, Anza."

"Fine, fine. Let's just get going, I want to spend as much of the day as I can here."

**-_Konoha Bookstore_-**

"At least it's not as big and cramped as the library…"

"I'm not going back there."

"Me neither." The girls wouldn't say it outright, but after their trip there, they gained a fear of getting lost among the rows of books, and will never go back willingly.

"Aren't you going to look for something, Mito?" reminded their mother.

"Oh! Right!" She ran off for her quarry, probably a book of fantasy or the like.

"And what about you?"

"I'll look. No promises if I find something, though." Anza walked away and marched through the multiple parts of the store, not finding anything that caught her interest...that was until she saw a familiar grey dressed man. "Kakashi!"

Said cyclops stopped looking at a certain series of literary work and turned to her voice. "Yo."

"What are _you_ doing here? There's a book you want?"

"Yes, one of Jiraiya's new ones. I always get the next volume."

"Uncle Jiraiya finally wrote it?" She got closer to the novels, picked up the one saying 'new', and looked at it. "'Icha Icha...Violence?' Is this it?"

"Yes…" He then remembered how young she was, despite her rather high vocabulary and intelligence. "I mean no! Don't read it, this series isn't something you would like."

"I won't know until I read it. Thanks, Kakashi! See you later!" The birthday girl left the Anbu, presumably to go back to her parents.

"_(Sigh)_ I tried. Now it's up to sensei to stop her."

* * *

Minato and Kushina couldn't believe what they were seeing. One of their little girls was holding one of the world famous 'Icha Icha' books, with a smile on her face.

"So...can I have it?"

"NO!" they both shouted, causing nearly everyone to look in the families direction.

The white haired girl frowned. "Why not? It's made by-"

"We know who writes them, Anza, and we stand by our decision. The content in that book is not for young kids." stated the Uzumaki.

"But you let me read 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. What's so different about this one?"

"It doesn't matter, we won't let you read it." Kushina grabbed the book, and left to go put it back.

The now eight year old turned to her father. "Dad! You're just going-"

"Yes. No child should be allowed to read 'Icha Icha'."

"Fine..."

"Thank you. If it wasn't what it was, we would have bought it for you."

This just caused the gears in her head to start spinning. 'I WILL find out what's in that book, and I will read it!'

It took a while, but they regrouped, with Mito having one book that Anza couldn't read the title of, and they left the store.

**-_a few hours later_-**

'No, this didn't hold anything I could use...no, I already used that one...' The whiskered daughter was back in her father's study trying to figure out the contents of the strange markings. Friends were going to be at the house soon for the party, and she needed to hurry. 'Dad had a manual on how to be a good genin instructor, so what else could he have?' She tried the one closest to the door, and got...another book. 'Huh? 'Fuinjutsu: Advanced'? Why would he have this? I'll check it out later.' Anza opened the door to the study…

"What are you doing in there _this_ time?"

...and jumped when she saw her smiling father in front of her. "Ah! H-how did you know I was here?"

"You have the book, you tell me."

"You know fuinjutsu?"

"Yep. It's how I became known as the Yellow Flash. I'm not as good as your mother, though."

"Right, she's an Uzumaki."

"So you didn't just look up the Namikazes that day, huh?"

Anza hung her head. "No...I know what happened to the Land of Whirlpools...mom, Mito, and I could be the last Uzumaki's in existence…"

"And you want to at least keep the tradition alive and learn fuinjutsu, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, _that_ book won't get you anywhere." He took the advanced guide, went back into the room, and sealed it back into it's seal. "You would have sooner exploded using that particular book. You need a beginners guide." Going to another storage seal, he brought out what he was looking for and handed it to his child. "It's a difficult art, but I'm sure it won't be too much a problem for you. After all, you're an Uzumaki."

She looked at the book. 'I won't let them disappear…I won't let us fade away.' "Thanks, dad."

"Your welcome. We should probably get ready, the guests are going to be here in an hour."

"Right."

* * *

"...we don't have _this_ many friends, do we?" Anza asked to Mito. Multiple people were now at the house, all of which were close to their parents...and they brought their children. They sat outside, where there was enough room to sit.

"What?! You don't remember them?"

"Maybe...can you tell me their names?"

"Oh, okay...well, this is Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji." Each waved, with varying amounts of enthusiasm.

"Sorry, I'm drawing blanks. Anything else?"

"They're clan heirs, like us."

"Oh! Now I remember. Inochi's, Hiashi's, Tsumes', Shikaku's, and Choza's kids. Mom would take us to the park and we would play with you guys. Mito more than I, anyway."

"Yep!" chirped Ino.

"It was too troublesome to play with you two. I prefer watching the clouds." spoke the lazy Nara.

"You think anything involving girls is too troublesome, Shikamaru." said Choji as he ate from his bag of chips.

"Hey, am I interrupting anything?"

The group turned to the voice, and they saw Shisui.

"Shisui-sensei!" Anza got up and went to hug her teacher, who returned it. "You made it!"

"Of course I did! I wasn't going to miss your first birthday under my tutelage."

"Is Itachi-sensei and Sasuke here as well?"

"Yeah. Come on, did you really think we wouldn't turn up?"

"Heh...kinda."

"Your words hurt me…"

Mito stood up and got a closer look at the Uchiha. "So _you're_ one of the guys training my sister?"

Shisui looked at her. "And you must be Mito. If you had the same hair color and whisker marks, it would be nearly impossible to tell you apart. It's nice to meet you."

She smiled. "Likewise."

"Anyway, your parents sent me to get all of you when I arrived. It's time for cake and gifts."

The kids followed the chunin back inside, where the parents of the heirs, Minato, Kushina, Kakashi, Itachi, and Sasuke were waiting for them.

"So...you two ready?" asked the twins mother, getting a nod from them both. For the next few minutes, the sisters tore apart gift after gift, most being books, clothes, and even a shogi board. But there was one that stood out the most...a long, slim box with Anza's name on it.

Confused, the girl looked around, with everyone having the same expression as her. "Um...who got this for me?"

"We did, of course!" said Shisui, who was now standing next to the other two Uchiha.

"What?"

"Well, it was mainly Sasuke's idea, but we saw the way you looked at the tantos, so Itachi and I decided to get you something special." The youngest of the three gained a look of embarrassment. He was probably hoping they left his name out of it, but that just didn't happen.

The girl lifted the top off of the unwrapped gift, and there laid a katana. Silver handle wrapped in black leather, it had tomoe where the expensive metal peeked through, and at the non-bladed end, there was something similar to a crow's talons holding a small red gem. The sheath was an inky black color, with matching silver engraves.

"D-does this mean…?"

"Yes. Starting tomorrow, we will be teaching you kenjutsu."

"T-thank you…" She turned to her sister. "Now I feel bad...you didn't get something like this…"

"It's fine, don't worry about me! You deserve it more than I do."

"Okay girls, now that all the presents have been given, let's get some cake!" said the Hokage. All eventually went to the kitchen and got a piece of pre-cut vanilla cake.

At where the Uchiha's sat, the master of the shunshin noticed something odd about Sasuke. "Why do you keep glancing at her?" he whispered.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Shisui gained a teasing grin. "Does little Sasuke have a crush on Anza, the girl that beats him at everything?"

"I do not!"

"I think you do!"

Itachi just listened to this while eating with mild amusement...that was, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking behind him, he saw Minato.

"I need to talk to you and Shisui."

Shisui stopped messing around with a now miffed Sasuke and looked at his superior. "Is it about the sword?"

"No. Just follow me."

* * *

The three of them were now in Minato's study, and the Hokage pulled out a piece of paper. He placed it on the door, and soon a myriad of kanji swarmed the room before flashing and disappearing.

"Now no one can overhear us." The Yellow Flash went over to the window, and looked outside, where his daughter and Sasuke seemed to be sparring in front of everyone. "I need an update on the Uchiha."

"Things are taking a turn for the worse, Lord Hokage. The whispers of unease are growing, and the clan is starting to lose trust in me. At first they applauded me becoming your daughter's sensei because I would be highly trusted by you, but now they see it as a way for Konoha to 'corrupt' and turn me against them." filled in Itachi.

"Even your father?"

"Especially my father. He knows I'm against a coup, and he's the one behind most of the coup talks."

"Damn...I was able to convince the council to not put them in a remote corner of the village, but I guess it didn't help...what is the estimated time that you would say we have until they mobilize?"

"I would say a few years. Despite what you may think, not putting heavy surveillance on them put them at ease for a while, but everyone still blames them on the attack eight years ago, and it has caused their anger to rekindle."

The Hokage sighed. 'I have to find a way to stop this...Fugaku is a friend, he _has_ to listen to reason!' "Please, keep Anza in the dark about this. I don't want her dragged into this mess."

"Don't worry. Your daughter will not know about the unrest in the Uchiha, but we will need to relocate our training grounds so Itachi and I can more easily keep an eye on our clan." said Shisui.

"Do it. Whenever something comes up, do not hesitate to let me know."

"Thank you. I just hope we can end this peacefully..."

"There's still hope, Shisui. I know Fugaku, and I think I can convince him to not go through with his plan." Minato went back to the door and ripped off the sealing paper, breaking it's hold on the room. "Please, enjoy the rest of the day." The two loyal Uchiha left, leaving the blonde all alone. 'At least...I hope so.'

* * *

**A.N.: That was a pain to write, and now I'm out of pre-written chapters, so I have to write more. It may be a little sloppy, but it's the third longest thing I've written (that includes two unreleased chapters of the original). I tried to make it a little funny, probably failed, and show what their relationship with the other kids around their age is kind of like. I'm getting _so close_ to showing the 'third protagonist', but I have around four more chapters to go through before that happens. I also feel bad for Sasuke, since I know things he doesn't...**

**earendil18: Not right now, but she wants to learn fuinjutsu for the reasons you mentioned. She might later...you'll just have to wait and see.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 9**

'Yes, this will do. We are relatively close to Fugaku's house, and we're far enough away that Anza won't figure out the unrest in the Uchiha.' thought Shisui. He and Itachi brought the girl and Sasuke to a heavily forested area near a steep cliff, so they were going to have to watch the kids closely, or else they may fall into the ravine.

"So this is going to be our new place to train?" asked the Namikaze.

"Yep!" He turned to his students. "Today's first lesson: learning how to swing a sword."

Sasuke raised his hand. "But I don't have one." As soon as he said that, his brother came up and gave him a tanto. "Nevermind."

Anza looked at the katana on her hip. "Why do I have a much longer weapon then you guys?"

"Well...we thought you should have a weapon to call your own, and not just something generic."

"But it's just a katana…"

"No, it's not 'just' a katana. It's blade is made with chakra metal, and that means the sword will more easily acquire the effects of you flowing your chakra through it."

"Okay, I take it back." She unsheathed the sword and held it in both hands. "So...you were saying that we need to figure out how to swing them?"

"It may sound strange, but if you don't know how to properly use your blades, you'll just end up wasting stamina. You also need to find out how _you_ use your weapon."

"Like with taijutsu?" asked Sasuke.

"Exactly. We will give you advice, but ultimately it will be you figuring out your own style."

"Well, let's get started!" With the snow haired girl's declaration, the two children charged at the older men, who activated their sharingans and brought out their weapons.

**-_half an hour later_-**

"...maybe we should take a break?" offered Itachi's best friend.

"No! Sasuke, get up! You can't be tired already!" Anza nudged said boy from his spot on the ground with her foot. His tanto was about five feet away from him.

"Sorry...I...can't continue right...now." he wheezed out. "He wasn't...joking. My arm hurts…"

She turned to her senseis. "We're just going to wait for him to regain his strength, aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"_(Sigh)_ Fine. I have something I need to learn, anyway." She went to her bag, brought out the fuinjutsu guide, paper, a brush, a canister of ink, and started reading.

"Wait, you want to learn fuinjutsu?"

"Yes. Uzumaki's were renowned for their skills in it, and now most are dead, so I will keep their traditions alive as best I can."

"It will be hard, trying to learn two new skills you have no experience in." warned Shisui.

"Don't worry, I'll learn everything I need to. Even on how to use the sharingan."

"You think you can unlock it?"

"Maybe. The Namikaze's came from the Uchiha, and dad said his mother may have had it." She momentarily looked at him from the corner of her eye. "How did you get yours?"

He gained a sad look as he recalled that day. "It was after I became a genin, but all that you need to know is that we were ambushed by a band of missing-nin, my teammates were pinned, and my sensei was trying to take care of multiple chunin level opponents. I had to save my friends, but I didn't know how, in _my_ predicament. I had a man blocking my path, and he was faster than me, enough so that I couldn't get a hit on him. He knocked me around for awhile, but before he could kill me, I think my resolve to help my comrades awoke my eyes, allowing me to dodge and strike a fatal blow. The others weren't as skilled as the one I defeated, and we were able to render most of them unconscious for questioning. Luckily, none of us were seriously hurt."

"But it was the day you first killed, wasn't it? That's why you look so sad remembering it."

"Yeah. That day taught me how terrible it feels to kill others, and I decided to never do it again, not unless it was absolutely necessary."

Anza looked away from him and at the ground. "I wish there was another way to awaken it besides going through something like that, but I guess it doesn't matter right now. I'll continue with this, let me know when we'll get back to kenjutsu." She went back to reading and getting her calligraphy up to where it needs to be.

Shisui decided to leave her alone for the moment, but something she said caught his interest. 'Another way, huh? There just might be...'

In around fifteen minutes, Sasuke was back and ready for more.

"Okay, this advice is more for Anza than you, Sasuke. If you want to wield something two handed, you should have your dominant hand closest to your body."

Anza tried it, and found it much more comfortable holding her katana. "And it shouldn't be in a iron-clad grip, right?"

"Correct." He looked at the other student. "How does using a tanto feel?"

"Strange since I haven't held one before, but I think I can make it work."

"Good, since you'll be working on this for a while. By the time you enter the academy, you will be proficient in sword play, but right now, put those away. I want to cover a different skill real quick. Itachi?"

The other Uchiha nodded and brought out two kunai. "I assume you don't need to be told what these are?" The two nodded. "Okay, now watch me." In a few quick motions, he threw both, with each going an inch into the trees. "For the next hour, I want you to practice throwing ninja tools. When you manage to get two kunai into a tree, we'll give you some shuriken."

Sasuke was the first to be given the small weapons, and he showed that his Uchiha blood was prominent, easily getting the kunai needed into the trees and moving onto the shurikens. Anza, on the other hand, had some trouble, since whenever she threw a kunai, it wouldn't do what she wanted.

"Well...since Sasuke doesn't need our immediate assistance, we should focus on helping Anza." said Shisui.

"No, no, I can figure this out." She tried throwing a kunai, but the thing bounced off. "...this just makes me hate trees more." Launching another one, it actually managed to sink into the bark, but it spun wildly on the way there. "Huh...so it just needs more force? Good to know...now I have to figure out how to keep it from spinning." She threw one more, this being slightly straighter, and it too impaled the tree.

After handing her some shuriken as per the agreement, Itachi sat with Shisui and watched their students. "...I don't think we really need to make this a daily thing for them. We'll just stick with teaching them kenjutsu, and if they want to practice shurikenjutsu, they can do so on their breaks."

"Sounds like a plan. Speaking of plans, I need to talk to you after they go home."

**-_later, just after training_-**

"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" asked the clan heir of the Uchiha.

"You know that Anza is distantly related to us, right?" Shisui saw Itachi nod. "And that she wants to activate her sharingan?"

"Yes, and you have an idea on how to do that, don't you?"

He nodded. "If it works, she won't have to be in a life or death situation in order to unlock it."

"So...what is it?"

Shisui turned on his eyes...and changed them to a four pointed pinwheel. "A genjutsu."

* * *

**A.N.: If you're wondering 'What about Sasuke?', that gets explained next chapter. Sorry if this is slower than a snail, but I don't want to go by things too fast like I did the first time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 10**

'Hm...I wonder what they're going to teach us next?' thought Anza as she walked through the woods to the new training ground. 'We pretty much know how to swing our weapons properly, we can throw ninja tools well enough, and they said we would be learning swordplay for awhile...does that mean we'll learn some specific techniques? I hope so, since only knowing the basics for kenjutsu is boring...' Abruptly, she stopped walking and began falling face first into the dirt, but she was caught by Shisui, fresh out of a shunshin.

"Got her."

Itachi similarly appeared next to his best friend. "You sure you caught her in a genjutsu?"

"Yeah. Her eyes have no aim to them, and she isn't moving besides the rise and fall of her chest."

"I hope this works."

"Me too. If we can keep her from having to unlock it during a tough spot, then we should do everything in our power to do so."

"But whatever she sees in the illusion might scar her for life."

"I know you're worried, but she'll be okay. You have to believe in that." Shisui hoisted her onto his shoulder and took her to where they were _supposed_ to meet up, an area marked by a single kunai in the ground, leaving Itachi behind for the moment.

'He's right...but I can't help but feel as if this will have terrible consequences.' He thought back on the day Shisui came forward with this plan.

* * *

Itachi rose an eyebrow at his friends words. "A genjutsu?" he echoed.

"Yes. With the mangekyo, I can create an illusion that her brain won't be able to tell if it's fake or not. She'll _think_ she's in a dire spot, but in reality everything will be fine."

"Isn't that going too far? As far as I know, she can't dispel normal genjutsus, let alone anything having to do with the sharingan."

"I don't know if anything less will cause the right stimuli for the sharingan's activation, so I'm forced to use the evolved form. This is all just theory at this point, and there's only one way to test it out."

"Why not let it come naturally? If she _can_ gain it, it will happen when she needs it most."

"That's what I'm worried about, Itachi. In that moment when she needs it, it may not be enough. Would you be able to stomach telling her that there was something you could have given her that could have saved her teammates after they died on a mission? Or telling her family that she died because we didn't try awakening her sharingan?"

Itachi smiled. "You care for her like a sister, don't you?"

This caused the other Uchiha to chuckle. "And she isn't one to you? You treat her a bit like Sasuke."

"Yeah...I guess I do. So, when are you going to do this?"

"Next week at the least. We should let the two of them master kenjutsu a bit more first, just in case this doesn't work."

"Well, if I'm in Konoha, let me know the day before you enact your plan. I don't think my brother should go through something like this just yet."

"Noted. I'll also let her parents know what I'm doing so that if something happens, they have someone to blame."

* * *

'No...I have no reason to distrust Shisui's methods. He wouldn't do this unless he thought it was the best course of action.' He followed his fellow clansman, and watched his student with him.

**-_Anza's Genjutsu_-**

'That's strange...where is everybody? Shisui should be here at the very least.' The meeting place was vacant, with no sign of anybody. 'Was...was I not suppose to come here-' She could hear footsteps from behind her, and one of the first things she learnt from the Uchiha's was to always be on guard. Anza turned, unsheathed her katana and held it in a defensive position. "Who's there?!"

"Woah, woah, it's just me!" said a familiar blonde jinchuuriki.

"Mito? What are you doing here? Don't you have you have your own training to do?"

"Mom said that I should take today off, so I decided to watch you train."

"It might be boring, since it seems I'm the only one to turn up."

"Oh...well, I'll just hang out with you then."

"Sure, go ahead, but I'm going to look around the place. Maybe they're just testing me and I have to find them? But why would they do that...eh, it doesn't matter." The twins went around the forest for a time, Anza poking shrubs thick enough to hide a man with her sword while Mito walked around, hands behind her head.

"You're right, this _is_ boring."

"I told you. You should go back home. I'll stay a few more hours before doing the same."

"How about we spar? It will pass the time while you wait for your sensei's get here."

"No. I have fuinjutsu to learn, and I want to get as far as I can."

"But you can do that at home! Come on, lets have some fun before we have to go back to training."

The white haired one sighed. "Fine. I can never dissuade you when you want to do something." She put the sword back into its scabbard, removed the entire thing from her hip, placed it against a tree, and got into a stance she based off of Shisui's. Legs wide enough apart for fluidity and speed, left arm with a palm facing outward to catch attacks, the other a closed fist. "No 'real' punches. We don't want to hurt each other, do we?"

"Nope." Mito took a more standard stance, both hands raised and legs not quite as spread apart as Anza. They stood there for a few minutes, neither going after the other. "So...who's going to-" Her twin charged forward and easily got into her guard, ending with a fist close to the jinchuuriki's face.

"First point goes to me. Don't talk before your opponent moves, or-" Now it was her turn to be cut off, having the situation reversed.

"Now we have an even score."

"It seems that way, except…" She sweeped Mito's legs from under her, causing her to hit the ground.

"Ow...I thought we didn't want to fight for real?"

"All I did was cause you to lose balance, and it didn't hurt _that_ bad, did it?" Anza helped her sister back onto her feet.

"I guess you're right…but that was still dirty."

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" asked a rather crude voice. The girls, naturally, turned to face it, and saw a dark skinned man in grey uniform, which had a white, single strapped flak jacket, but the thing the whiskered girl noticed the most was his forehead protector. "It's the Hokage's brats. Just what I was looking for…"

"W-what's someone from Kumo doing here?"

"I don't need to tell you that. Especially with _my_ orders."

'So he's not friendly...dad will not take this sitting down...I need my weapon.' Hoping for the best, she dived for her katana, but she was kicked away by the far faster and stronger shinobi.

"Anza!" The blonde moved to check on her twin, but she was grabbed by the throat. "Ack!"

"I only need one, and since the other is down for the count, I'm going to be taking you."

"N-no…" Anza got back up, and pulled out the two kunai she began keeping on her person. "Unhand her!"

"Sorry, but I can't. Will you come with, or will I have to kill you?"

"Neither! I won't let you take her!"

"And how will you do that? You can't hit me without hitting your sister."

She froze, bravado lost. 'He's right. If I throw one of my kunai, she'll become a human shield, and if she dies, he'll just go after me...darn it! Where's Shisui or Itachi?!'

"I see that you know of your predicament." The man walked over to a tree and slammed the girl in his grasp into it.

"What are you doing?!"

"It doesn't matter _who_ I take, as long as I get one of you." Another slam.

"Stop it! You'll kill her!"

"...do I look like I care? We're already on the road to war, this will just speed it up if the Hokage cares that much for his daughter." One more.

"H-help…" Mito wheezed out. Her hair started changing color in the back, I sign that there was now an open wound.

'There...there are people that truly don't have a shred of remorse if they kill someone? He...he's nothing more than a monster in the shape of a human...saying that he'd just take her, and now he will murder her? No...I won't let him...no more...' "NO MORE!" With her last option being to rush, she charged at the shinobi with her tools, but when she got closer, everything started to crack. "Huh?" Pieces started to fall from around her, and she could see what looked like a different part of the forest. "W-what's happening?"

**-_back in the real world_-**

"Her eyes, they changed!" exclaimed Shisui.

"So they did. Your plan worked."

Indeed, Anza's purple orbs became blood red, with two tomoe in her left, and one in the right. Her body started to stir, and the new eyes gained back life. "M...Mito…"

Shisui moved into her vision. "Hey, everythings okay."

She sat up. "Ugh...what...how did I get here?"

"Well...you've been here for awhile."

"But...but I was attacked by someone from Kumo, and...and Mito was there! Did I pass out? Did he take her away?!" She began to rapidly check her surroundings, but it just irritated the headache she now had.

"Stop that. Let me explain." His student followed his advice, but she didn't look happy. "Okay...while you were walking to the usual place, I put you under a rather powerful genjutsu with _this_." His eyes turned into their mangekyo form. "Since you didn't know what to look for or how to disrupt them, you had no idea you were under one. What you saw was fake, so your twin is fine."

Anza could feel tears starting to well up. From relief, or from the 'betrayal', she wasn't sure. "Why would you do something like that? Do you realise how horrible that was? I...I was helpless while Mito was having her skull split open..."

"I'm sorry, for what it's worth...but remember how you said you wished there was another way of unlocking the sharingan?" She nodded. "Look into the reflection of your blade."

Anza scanned the area for her katana, finding it nowhere, but it was given to her by Itachi. Unsheathing just a little bit, she saw the dojutsu. "I...it's unlocked?"

"Yep. Take a few days to recover from the illusion, and then we'll teach you how to use it, if you'll let us."

"How do I deactivate it?"

"Cut off the chakra flow to your eyes...or you can start training them right now."

She stopped staring at herself and looked at him with a confused face. "What do you mean?"

"The more you use your sharingan, the less chakra it will consume. So if you keep it activated for extended periods, you'll be able to use it longer."

"Makes sense...but can I make a few requests?"

Itachi nodded in his friends stead. "Of course. After what we just put you through, name whatever you wish."

"One: even if he asks, don't do that to Sasuke. At first, it sounded so fanciful, saving the day with a new power...but if what I saw was the price for these eyes, then I don't think he should see that yet, if at all."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Two: when I come back, I want to learn a ninjutsu. At this point, all I can do is swing a sword, and that illusion showed me how unprepared I am."

Shisui thought about her second request for a moment. "Yeah. We can do that. I think I have the perfect jutsu for you."

"Thank you." She stood up, blade in hand, and began her journey home without another word.

When she got a considerable distance away, Itachi began whispering. "What are we going to tell our clan if they ask? Someone is bound to notice her eyes."

"We'll just say that she gained the sharingan during a training session."

"But that's never happened before."

"Then she'll be known as the first. It's better to tell them that lie then to tell them that every Uchiha can gain the sharingan by being put under an intense genjutsu. We'll also need to find a way to get Sasuke to keep the truth a secret."

"You won't have to worry about that. He's my brother, after all." The clan heir stood up. "Let's go home, Shisui. Our job is done for the day."

"Right."

* * *

**A.N.: What exactly will change, now that Anza has one of the legendary dojutsus? Well, besides the obvious. I have a reason for giving it to her so early, you'll just have to trust me. I'll also have to start updating only once a day when I have a chapter, since it's hard for me to write two new chapters in one day, then because of that, it takes me three.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 11**

After leaving her senseis and getting back home, Anza continued practicing her calligrapy in the study. It was going far faster than she remembered it being, with every kanji being as perfect it can be. 'Is it because of the sharingan? Does it memorize words? No...I'm...passively copying the best kanji I've written? Bah, I'll know what it is when I restart the training, this is just irritating the headache I have. Too bad we're out of headache medicine...'

She must have been writing for a long time, because the door behind her opened, and only one other person ever goes into the study regularly. "Hey."

"Hello, dad."

Minato looked at where his daughter sat, and noticed that paper filled to the brim with kanji surrounded her. "It looks like you can begin learning the techniques now."

"Yeah. It would have taken far longer if I didn't have the sharingan, but I can finally learn something useful out of this."

"So Shisui's plan worked."

"You knew about it?"

"Yes. He came to your mother and I and told us. He said if we didn't want him to do it, he wouldn't, but we gave him the go ahead." He walked over and sat down in front of Anza, seeing her new eyes for the first time. "Do you want to talk about what you saw?"

"No, not really, but I guess it would be best if I did." She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I saw Mito almost die. She followed me to my training ground and while we were sparing, a Kumo-nin attacked. He...he started choking her, threatening to take her back to Kumo...and then he began ramming her into a tree. Over, and over. I couldn't do anything but watch as the back of her head started bleeding while she called out for help…" Despite trying her best not to, she began crying a little. "I...I was useless...even in a fake world powered by our minds, I couldn't protect her! But that will change…" She wiped the tears away, and locked eyes with her father. "I will learn everything I need to keep my sister safe...and bring an everlasting peace to the world so that things like what I saw don't happen. This I swear."

Minato saw the determination in her crimson orbs and smiled. "I'm glad that you want to watch out for your twin and that you want peace, but don't push yourself too hard going for those things."

"Don't worry. I know my own limitations." Anza stood up and began picking up the papers. "Once I clean up here, I'm going to spend time with Mito if she doesn't have anymore training today."

"Go ahead. It would be best for you to do so after going through _that_."

Nodding, she left her father and found her sister, who was ecstatic to find out she now had the sharingan. They were completely unaware that a certain someone started to wake up from his eight year long nap...

**-_a few days later_-**

"Ah, so you _are_ going to continue to train with us!" said Shisui as he spotted Anza walking towards him, Itachi, and Sasuke.

"Of course I am. I need to learn how the sharingan works, you promised to teach me a ninjutsu, and I want to learn more on swordplay. Doesn't hurt that I consider the three of you like family."

"You don't know how glad I am to hear that. Well, I should give you the rundown on the abilities of the sharingan. First, you can see chakra and can tell different chakra's apart."

"I can?"

"It's not a constant thing. You need to _want_ to see the chakra."

She focused, and soon she could see the energy flowing inside the Uchiha. "This will be handy."

"It is. Second, it allows you to pick up the tiniest of details, so now you won't be able to be put under a genjutsu unless it's with the mangekyo, but even then it will be far easier to escape it. Third, as I've told you once, it can copy nearly anything it sees. Hand seals, the moulding of chakra, all of that and more."

"So _that's_ why it became so much easier to learn fuinjutsu..."

"Yep. Fourth, it allows the user to see where an attack is going and react accordingly, but you have to be on a similar level as the other person, otherwise you'll just be hit."

"I remember you telling me that one...just not the 'similar level' thing."

"Okay, that's about it. I'm going to show you the jutsu that I promised to teach you, and you should be able to copy it."

"Are you sure you want to show her that one instead of the other?" asked Itachi.

"Positive. Besides, she's technically part Uchiha anyway, and Sasuke also needs to learn it. Let's go closer to the edge, I don't want to burn down the forest, unlike _some people_." The group of four did so, leaving the flammable trees behind. "Both of you, watch me." He formed the tiger seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" A giant ball of flame shot out of his mouth and went over the cliff side, exploding soon afterward. "Did you two get that?"

"I did." said Anza.

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, give it a shot. You may not get it the first time, but-"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" A perfect duplicate of the ball from before came from the Hokage's daughter, exploding right off the cliff.

"That's...fine…" he finally finished.

"My turn! Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke, and a smaller, but still large ball of flame came out.

His brother came up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well done. I didn't think you could do it on your first try."

"It wasn't. Father taught it to me on one of the days you were on a mission, and I've been figuring it out at home."

'So he _is_ trying to groom Sasuke to take my place as heir and use him as a tool for the coup...father, how far much farther will you go?' "Still, good job. Not many can perform it at your age." Seeing Sasuke beaming, Itachi removed his hand and looked for Anza, who was nearby a tree. '...she knows a fire technique now. This doesn't bode well...' "Don't think about it."

"I'm not going to burn them down yet, Itachi-sensei. In fact, I need them, since I think I can figure out the tree climbing exercise."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. With the sharingan, I can see my chakra. Using that, I can adjust the amount I need until I can freely parade on the bark." She tested her theory by putting a seemingly large amount of chakra over her shoes and stepping on the tree, promptly breaking the area around her foot. "See? Too much. If I tone it down…" She placed her other foot on the wood, and it stuck. 'Okay, now put the same amount on the other...' Taking another step, she began walking. "Hah! I finally did it! It's a little wobbly, but I can perfect it in a few days."

The young Uchiha pouted. "I wish I had the sharingan."

This prompted the Namikaze to face him from her awkward position. "No, you don't. Despite the awesome abilities it comes with, the price is too high."

"I know what the price is, they told me how you unlocked it, I was just talking about the dojutsu itself."

"Good. As far as I'm concerned, no one should go through that kind of experience. I'm going to get down now since I feel myself slipping, and we're going to continue with our normal lessons. I've derailed it too much already." She fell to the ground, and kenjutsu practice resumed like normal...except that Anza could now rather easily deflect attacks and get into her sensei's guard if they didn't have their own sharingans on.

* * *

**A.N.: ...the sharingan and it's evolutions are the ultimate cheat devices, aren't they? Reads movements, dispels genjutsus, it makes everything easier without putting too much work in. Ah well. Next chapter: twins ninth birthday. Yay!...maybe?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 12**

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted two voices, and huge balls of fire collided against each other next to a cliff, exploding in a blaze of glory. After the light subsided, the sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the air , and two figures were in a struggle for power.

"Your heat resistance has gotten better, Sasuke. You didn't even flinch when you entered the blast radius." said Anza with an almost bored face, a trick she learned from her opponents brother. She didn't have the sharingan on, since it would be unfair for her opponent.

"When we practice that jutsu as much as we have, I'm pretty sure we get use to it." In comparison with his fellow apprentice, he had the look of determination: mouth opened, revealing his clenched teeth, and eyes narrowed in a desperate bid to find in opening. Ever since Anza unlocked her dojutsu, he couldn't best her anymore...but that made him train harder. 'I won't be left behind! I will prove I can be her equal!'

On the sidelines, there was Itachi and Shisui. "Sasuke really wants to win. He put a lot of chakra into that jutsu, but she matched him easily and still has plenty of chakra to spare." commented the shunshin master.

"Yes he does...but he knows he can't. She's memorized every move he could possibly make, knows him inside and out, and he hasn't switched up his style to combat that...but he also doesn't care. He just wants to prove himself to her."

"Why? Are you telling me he _actually_ has a crush on her?"

"That is correct. He has been conflicted on what to give her for her birthday, and was embarrassed when he asked mom for help." Itachi chuckled at the memory. "You should have seen his face when she asked if it was for a _special girl_ in his life."

"Oooh, that's right, Anza's birthday is tomorrow...damn, I don't have an idea either. Maybe I'll just get her whatever she wants."

"That may work. Hm...I wonder, does he know that there's an opening?"

"You mean her legs."

"Yes."

Back at the sparring children, Anza was still easily keeping Sasuke from moving his arms. 'Come on, all you have to do is one dirty trick, and you win! Why won't you go for it?'

The Uchiha knew what he had to do in order to emerge victorious...but he just couldn't do it. 'I want to win without resorting to such tactics. If that means I lose...so be it.'

The white haired girl sighed. 'I guess he won't do it...' Nearly effortlessly, she disarmed him and had the tip of her sword pointing at his face. "Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time."

"I concede, I know when I'm beaten."

She put the sword away, and after Sasuke picked up his tanto, they went to their senseis.

"That was excellent, you two. Your mastery of the Great Fireball is phenomenal, and you wield your weapons as if they are part of your body." said Shisui.

"There is _one_ thing we saw that we didn't like." Itachi turned to his little brother. "You could have won if you swept her legs from under her, but you didn't. In a fight against a real enemy, that would cost you."

"But she's not the enemy. It was only a spar, not a do or die moment."

"_(Sigh)_ You're right. Just try to remember that there are times where you have to do whatever you need to do in order to win."

"Right, right."

"Now that we got that out of the way, I have some news. I'm sorry to say this, but we won't be able to train you for much longer."

"Because we are going into the academy soon, right?" said Anza.

"Correct. Despite already being prepared for the shinobi world in terms of skill, you need to go to school before becoming a ninja."

"That's fine, we'll just graduate in the first year like you did, Itachi-sensei."

This caused Shisui to glare at her. "No. We want you to go through all three years in order to build up bonds with your fellow students. Without them, you won't pass the exams."

She immediately retracted her statement upon seeing how serious he was. "Okay, we'll do that, despite how boring it may be."

He smiled. "Good. When you do graduate, I'll personally ask for you two to be on my team. I might even be able to get Mito for you, Anza."

"That would be great. I forgot that you were promoted and could do that."

"Hehe, yep! It would also be for the best, since I would only have to worry about one of you." The mirth on his face went away, replaced with a frown. "Before I forget, I have _more_ bad news. Itachi and I won't be able to make it to your birthday this year."

The whiskered girls sharingan activated. "What?! Why?"

"Well, _I_ accepted a mission that will take me away from Konoha. It's A-Rank, so it will be a few days before I get back."

"And I can't discern specific information on mine, but it too will take a couple days before I return."

Anza looked so disappointed. "When are you leaving?"

Shisui hated seeing her look so sad. "In a few hours, but since we're not going to be here for your birthday...we're going to give you your gifts today!"

She brightened up a little. "What are they?"

"Uh...I actually don't have anything...so I figured I'll just buy the first thing you want."

Oh, this was not the thing he should have said, since now she gained a big grin. "No limits?"

"As long as it doesn't cost a fortune, yeah."

'Mom and dad can't stop me now!' "I do have _one_ thing I've been wanting…"

**-_Konoha Bookstore_-**

"This is the book you want?" asked Shisui. In his hand was one of the fabled 'Icha Icha' books. 'I've heard about these...but I have no idea what's in them.'

"Yep! It's written by Uncle Jiraiya, so it must be good."

"I remember how you went on about 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'...okay, I'll get it." He started walking away with the girl in tow, but Itachi had something to say.

"Shisui, NO! Don't give her that book!"

Said man stopped his march to the register. "Why not? It seems like it's just a harmless romance story."

"It's not! The content of those novels aren't suitable for kids!"

"I've read about murder. I've seen a genjutsu that showed my sister nearly die. I can handle it." remarked Anza.

"It'll be fine, Itachi. What's the worst thing that could be the result of her reading this?"

'So many things...' "...I can't stop you, can I?"

"Nope." Shisui shunshined over to the receptionist, bought the book, came back, and gave it to the girl. "Here you go."

'Finally! I can know what's in it!' "Thank you, but before I start reading it...hey Sasuke! Do you want to check something out with me?"

The boy, who was looking at a three hundred page novel, suddenly whipped his head in her direction. "Uh, sure. Is that alright, Itachi?"

"As long as you go home before six, then sure."

The black and white duo left the store and the older Uchiha behind, to see whatever Anza wanted to.

Shisui turned to his friend once the kids got out of earshot. "We need to see the Hokage before we leave."

The clan heir figured out what his clansmen was getting at. "Right."

**-_later, Hokage's Office_-**

"You know what we have to do, Minato." said a gruff voice belonging to a heavily bandaged old man with one eye. He seemingly only had one working arm, and had a cane nearby so walking was easier on his frail body.

"We are NOT doing that, Danzo. We have finally managed to get Fugaku to begin cooperating with us, everything will be fine."

"Our talks with the Uchiha will not last. The village will not listen to their demands, and they will not let their anger go. It's not in their nature."

"You have too little faith in them. We CAN end this peacefully." After saying that, the door to the room opened, revealing the two Konoha-loyal Uchiha. "Ah, hello you two."

"Hello, Lord Fourth." greeted the jonin. "We have come to give you an update on our clan before we leave."

"Go ahead."

Itachi went first. "I can't get anymore information on them. I am not allowed into the meeting place in fear of taking information back to you."

"_(Sigh)_ So you had to resort to _that _plan, Shisui?"

"Yes. They already distrusted him, but they began distrusting me too, so I had no choice but to feed them false information on Itachi. They want me to keep watching him though, just in case he 'changes sides'."

"Well, at least we still have a man on the inside. Do you have anything?"

"Yes. Coup talks have died down a bit, but Fugaku is still trying to convince them to go through with it, and many of them agree."

The disappointment was easily readable on Minato's face. "We're not any closer to resolving this, are we?"

"Doesn't seem that way, but Lord Hokage, if I may make a suggestion?"

"What is it, Shisui?"

In response, said Uchiha changed his eyes to their mangekyo form. "When I get back from my mission, I will cast Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku."

"Are you absolutely sure you want to cast it?"

"I do. The clan head is the sole reason for this nonsense, and because of his position, everyone will listen to him. I can end this once and for all."

"Then do it in the next meeting you're in. Go on your missions, you two." They bowed, and left.

"The probability of it working-" started the old war hawk, but he wasn't able to finish.

"Go away, Danzo. I don't need anything else from you."

"Fine. We will speak again, Lord Hokage." He too left, leaving the blonde alone.

'I can't believe we have to resort to Kotoamatsukami. I have no control over this anymore...it all rests on Shisui's shoulders now.'

**-_the next day, Namikaze Residence: 5:00 P.M_-**

Anza was sitting up in the tree, secretly reading her new book, but she had to close it every now and then due to what was inside. 'T...this is what Uncle writes now?! If mom and dad find out I'm reading this...I don't think I'll be allowed to buy _anything_ without their consent.'

"Hey Anza! Come down from there and hang out with your friends!" shouted Mito from under the branch her twin was sitting in.

"Just give me a minute!" She put the novel in one of the seals she had on her clothes and jumped down. Her mastery over fuinjutsu was just enough that she could put storage seals on fabric and seal small objects inside, which she tested out once by taking a titleless journal from the study and succeeding in sealing it into one of her shirts, the one she wore now. She never bothered with checking what was inside it or unsealing it. "So, who calls?"

"Besides me: Sasuke, Ino, and Hinata."

"Well, take me to them. I have no idea where they are since I've been in the tree." The blonde did, and the now group of five sat in a circle.

"So Anza, hows the book?" asked Sasuke.

Her face gained a light blush. "Um...uh...it's okay...don't you dare tell my parents."

"I won't if you don't tell mine about what we saw yesterday."

"What are you two talking about?" asked Mito.

"Nothing." said the whiskered one.

"Come on, I'm your sister! You can trust me."

"_(Sigh)_ Fine, but this doesn't leave the five of us!" She activated her sharingan for good measure, and all of them nodded. Anza motioned for them to lean in so she could whisper. "I got Shisui-sensei to buy me one of Uncle Jiraiya's stories: 'Icha Icha Violence'."

"And Anza here took me to the hotsprings to spy on women, for some reason." filled in the Uchiha.

"'Icha Icha Violence'? I've never heard of it." said Ino.

"That's because it's...not quite suitable for our age group."

"Then why are you reading it?"

"Because I didn't know what they meant exactly when I got it."

"_Why_ were you spying on women?" asked the jinchuuriki.

"I wanted to see if I could understand why Uncle used them as 'material'. I do now."

"Hey." All five turned to see the Hokage, standing there as if he was always there. "It's time for the present giving."

"Already?"

"Yeah. We decided to move it up so that you could have more fun with your friends later." The kids agreed with that logic, and they went to the living room so the twins could unwrap their gifts. It was relatively boring until Sasuke revealed he had something.

"I...I got you something, Anza."

"You did?"

"Yeah, but I had no idea what you'd like, and mother was no help, so…" He grabbed a rather large blue box. "Here."

It had no wrapper, so she simply lifted the top off, and saw a dark blue, long sleeved jacket with a high collar. Taking it out of the box, she turned it over and saw the Uchiha clan symbol on it's back. "Sweet, I have something to wear over my shirt!"

The boy was surprised. "You like it?"

She nodded and put it on over her dark red top. "Thanks, Sasuke."

Mito faked a pout. "You get all the good stuff every year."

"Sorry, it's not my fault!"

"Well, it seems that you two got all your gifts. Who's hungry?" asked Kushina, and dinner was served early to all.

**-_a bit later_-**

All the children were back to playing things like hide and seek or tag...all except Anza. 'Ever since dinner, my head hurts...I'm going to see if I can excuse myself from the party.' She seeked out her father, who was sitting with his wife, a few of the clan heads, and Jiraiya, who managed to get time to visit Konoha. "Can I go somewhere? I have a headache, and I don't want to take Mito's fun away."

"Sure, just come back before sundown." said her mother.

"Don't worry, I will. Thank you." With that, she left for the one place that would be silent for awhile.

* * *

"Where's Anza? She should have been out by now." asked Mito to her parents. Her sister hadn't come back outside to hang around her friends, and she wanted to know.

"Oh, she said she had a headache and wanted to go someplace quiet. I don't know where, though. She didn't tell us." said her father.

"But she should be celebrating her birthday!"

"Not everyone celebrates like you do, Mito."

The birthday girl visibly deflated. "I know...I just want to spend the day my sister."

"We know you do, but you can't until she comes back."

With that being the end of the conversation, she went back to her friends, who all waited for an answer. "Sorry guys, Anza's not here anymore."

"She left?" asked Sasuke.

"Yep. Dad said she went to someplace quiet because she had a headache, and he doesn't know where."

"Someplace quiet...I think I know where she went."

"You do?"

"Maybe. The only place that I think she would go for some peace would be our training grounds. It's always vacant until we get there."

"Can you take me there?"

He narrowed his eyes, not really liking that idea. "Why? I think she wants to be alone at the moment."

"Well, if she has a headache, she needs medicine. They get rather serious if nothing is taken, to the point where she can't do much. Haven't you seen the pill bottles she brings with her to train?"

"No I haven't, but that sounds bad...okay, I'll take you there."

Mito turned to the guests. "I'll be right back." Seeing them nod, she went back into the house, got the pills, a bottle of water, and took off with the Uchiha.

* * *

'Uh, it's getting worse. I thought it wasn't going to get this bad, but now I can't even read the book. I should have taken something…' thought the now alone daughter as she sat on the cliff, legs hanging off the side, 'Icha Icha' in her hands. Luckily, her savior arrived.

"Hey."

Turning her head, she saw her twin and her training partner. "Hey. I take it that Sasuke brought you here?"

"Yep. I've come to give you your medicine. You should have taken it before you left."

"Thanks. I thought I could handle it, but evidently not." She made a move to stand up...but fate had other plans. She put too much weight on certain parts of the edge, and it began to fall apart from under her. 'I made an error...Great Fireballs explode, and with how many we've used, of course they weakened the cliff. Foolish, foolish mistake…I never should have sat here...'

"ANZA!" both shouted, and they rushed to save the girl from her long descent...only to see her glowing, blood red eyes fall into the dark, raging river below. "NOOOOOO!" Their cry echoed across the area, yet the only ones that could hear it were themselves.

Sasuke could feel a peculiar sensation in his eyes as a lone tear slipped out, but he ignored it. "We need to get someone!"

"Let's hurry!" They ran as fast as they could back to the Mito's home.

* * *

"Have I ever told you about the time Shikamaru first lost at Shogi?" asked Shukaku.

"No, you've never mentioned it." said Minato.

"Well, it was when he was five-" the sound of the door flying open stopped him mid sentence, and soon afterward Mito and Sasuke were in the living room, panting like crazy.

"A...An...cliff…" Mito huffed out.

"Could you repeat that? What about a cliff?" asked her mother. The two kids looked up, and Kushina could see terror in their watery eyes.

"Anza fell off a cliff! We need to save her!"

All the adults jumped up immediately. "WHAT?!" shouted her parents.

"No time! Follow me!" yelled Sasuke, and he lead them to where it all happened.

All they found during the search was a soggy 'Icha Icha Violence', and torn up pieces of her new jacket. On the tenth of October, the day of her birth...Anza Namikaze...was gone.

* * *

**A.N.: I hope I made the reason for the unstable cliff believable. Sorry if it seems like plot-induced stupidity concerning how she fell, and if the chapter doesn't flow as well as the others. I tried to fix those as much as possible. I have a reason for doing what I did, and that will make itself clear in later chapters. Next is something like an 'aftermath' type of thing, then I'm jumping into the Academy.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 13**

"I can't believe we have to do this…" murmured Kushina, her violet eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Neither can I...parents shouldn't have to bury their child, and yet we don't even have a body…" said Minato, who was in a similar state. His family, friends of Anza's, and their parents were all standing in front of a tombstone with the late daughter's name on it.

"I...I was right there...I was right there and I couldn't do anything!"

"You can't blame yourself, Mito. You didn't push her off that cliff."

"B-but…"

"Enough. Anza wouldn't want you to put such a burden on yourself, you know that."

She went back at staring at the slab of rock. 'Dad's right...but I can't help but feel like if I didn't turn up, she would be here right now...'

Her father took a breath. "Does anyone want to say anything?"

"I do." said a certain Anbu captain. Itachi stepped forward. "She was an excellent student, always trying her best at doing whatever Shisui and I told her to do. It didn't matter if it was kenjutsu or failing to walk on trees, she did it all without complaint. She gave my brother something he needed: a friend, an obstacle to surpass, and that motivated him to no end." He got on one knee, and began to speak to the grave as if it was her. "I wish I could have returned you to your family. We've searched every inch of that damn river for a week, but we just can't find your body. We shared similar ideals, and now you can't complete your dream. You were someone I could call a sister despite us being so distantly related, and I was sure you were going to do wonderful things once becoming a kunoichi. I hope you found peace." He stood up and went back to Sasuke's side.

This continued until only Mito, her parents, and Sasuke hadn't said anything...but the Uchiha decided he wasn't going to leave here without speaking. "First you, now Shisui may be gone…" The boy walked up and put a hand on the tombstone. "You were always better than me. No matter how much I trained, you would soundly beat me in every spar. I know I could have won them if I did used dirty tactics, but I didn't want too. I wanted to win against you without relying on those tricks, like you could against me. I'm sorry I didn't give you better competition. You...were my best friend. I'll miss you...and I'll watch your sister in your place. I know how much she meant to you." As he walked away, he muttered: "You were right...the sharingan isn't worth the price."

Now it was Minato and Kushina's turn. "There isn't much to say. We were so happy the day you were born, even though the entire village was being attacked at the time. When I was able to hold you after everything died down, I pondered why you had such strange hair." The Hokage chuckled. "White...I didn't know that there was someone in either my line or your mothers that had that color...but that didn't matter when you grabbed my finger in your tiny hands." He could feel his eyes starting to water, but collected himself. He would allow himself to shed tears when they went back home. "You'll always be in our hearts, and even though you may not be able to hear us, know we will always love you."

Kushina didn't have anything to say, since her husband said everything she could have said, so it was the remaining twins time. "I should have been able to save you that day. If only I was faster, we wouldn't be here right now. But I can't change the past." She smiled. "You always went on about peace and stopping all wars. It's a hard dream to accomplish, yet it was the only one you thought about. I don't know if it can be done in my lifetime, but I'll do my best to try. You have my word." The crowd dispersed after at, with the two Uchiha's following the Namikazes.

* * *

"So still no sign of Shisui?" asked Minato to Itachi.

"No, sir. We have had no contact with Shisui. He hasn't even sent a messenger crow. I don't think he's coming back."

"I'm sorry. It must be hard, losing two people that you were close too."

"It must be worse for you, though. You lost one of your daughters."

"_(Sigh)_ Yeah. It's the worst feeling in the world. It feels like I failed her, when I know I had no power over what happened."

The clan heir decided to change the subject. "I apologize for bringing this up, but what are we going to do about the Uchiha? Without Kotoamatsukami..."

"I don't know. I've been so focused trying to find my little girls body that I haven't thought about it."

"Right...well, I'm going to get Sasuke and go home. Do you know where he is?"

"He's with Mito in her room. They are probably sharing stories about their times with Anza."

"Thank you."

**-_night_-**

Mito was not having a good time sleeping. Everytime she tried, she would always see Anza's sharingan fall away from her, and that wasn't a good thing to see when you wanted to sleep.

Looking over at the katana that now laid on the other bed, she sighed. 'It will be a long time before I'll be able to sleep normally again. The room is so...lonely now that she's gone...I'll just wait for sleep to come to me.' Eventually, nature took it's course, and she finally went on to the land of dreams...that just so happened to look like a sewer. 'Huh?' Looking around, the Namikaze noticed that both ends of the path were shrouded in darkness. "Well, this is strange. This does _not_ feel like dreaming. Wait, I can think? What _is_ this place?" She began walking forwards, since it had heat coming from that direction, and soon met metal bars with a single page of paper on the one in the middle. There was also a giant fox behind them. "Oh. It's _you_. What, here to try to take me over while I'm grieving?"

The being ignored her accusation. "**I should hate you."**

That was not the response she thought she would get. "Huh?"

"**I'm sealed inside you. By all rights I should **_**want**_ **to take you over and kill your father...yet I don't."**

"...so why not?"

"**Maybe because you lost your sibling, and I've been in a similar position."**

"You mean the other biju?"

"**Correct. My siblings were all weaker than me, and I took great pride in my power, but because of that, I wanted **_**them**_ **to get stronger. I taunted them, flaunted my strength, and in the end only got them to hate me, especially Shukaku, the Ichibi. I wasn't able to apologize for my actions before that bastard Hashirama captured and sold them off like livestock."**

"I'm...sorry to hear that. Is that why you are talking to me now?"

"**Yes. Even though they may disagree with me, I loved my fellow biju. They were my only family, and it hurt to lose them in nearly every way. I pulled your consciousness to the seal so that if you want, you could talk to someone that has felt what you're feeling."**

"Well...thank you, I guess."

"**If you were anyone else, I wouldn't be doing this. Now that we've had contact, we now have a telepathic connection. Just call for me in your mind, and I'll respond. It's time for you to wake up."** Before Mito could voice her confusion to the fox's statement, she was kicked out into the waking realm, leaving the Kyuubi alone again. '**Hm...who would have thought that the great bringer of destruction and death, the almighty Kyuubi, would take pity on a human? The world works in strange ways...'**

* * *

**A.N.: I made three chapters into thirteen. This thing will be far larger than I anticipated. Yes, yes, draw the parallels between Anza/Yahiko/Obito if you must. I wanted a clash of ideals later, so I had no choice but to pass on Anza's to Mito. The third main character is going to be introduced in the next chapter, so yay.**

**Deltahalo241: I like your determination in that theory. I still wonder what others think on that...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 14**

"Hanging in there, Sasuke?" asked Mito as she sat next to her friend in class. Over the three years since the accident, they bonded over their shared connection with Anza and became pretty much inseparable.

"Yeah...but I still don't understand _why_. Itachi...Itachi was one of the strongest men I knew, preached about peace and cooperation, and then one day he murders his own clan in their sleep? Did the loss of Shisui and his student break him? It just doesn't add up…"

"At least all of the children were spared."

"That _is_ something to be glad about, but that raises even more questions. Why spare _anyone_?" He started pulling at his hair. "UGH! I don't get it! All this speculation is hurting my head..."

"Well, prepare for worse, since class is starting."

In front of the now filled classroom was the smiling Iruka. "Hello, everybody!" Everyone except the Namikaze and the Uchiha continued talking. Seeing that nearly no one heard him, he used his infamous Big Head Jutsu. "QUIET!" Immediately, the shinobi and kunoichi-in-training followed orders and became silent. "Good! Now that I can be heard, I just wanted to say: welcome back to the Academy! This should be your final year here, and then you will be genin of Konoha!" The room cheered, obviously happy about that.

'I'm so close, Anza. Soon, I'll be on the road of bringing about your...no, our dream.' thought the remaining sister.

"I also have an announcement. Apparently, we will be getting a new student either today or tomorrow."

"What the hell?! That's not fair! We worked hard to get to this point, and someone just thinks they can waltz right in?!" shouted a rather angry looking boy with red markings on his face.

"Quiet down, Kiba. Normally, this doesn't happen, but this girl was tested by the Hokage himself, and he thinks she doesn't need to sit through three years of the Academy."

'Dad never told me of a new arrival...' The sound of the door knob turning stopped her thoughts and everyone in the room looked at the entry. It opened slowly, soon revealing a rather miserable looking girl around Mito's age, but maybe a few inches taller. Long wild hair blacker than night, it seemed that no light reflected off her head. No eyes, instead replaced with dirty bandages with what looked like blood soaked into them, a sign that they were put on after a terrible thing happened. Her outfit was similar to a black and grey martial artists gi with the sleeves ripped off, showing a strange symbol reading 'weapon' on her right arm. She had tan skin similar to Iruka, with no scratches or scars adorning what parts of her body that could be seen.

"Is the man called 'Iruka' here?" the mysterious girl said in a surprisingly cold voice, devoid of any joy.

"Yeah, that would be me." replied the teacher. "I take it you're the new student?"

"Yes." She entered the room, door closing on it's own, and stood with him. "It wasn't that hard to find you. Most of the building is empty."

"Hehe, well, this is the only class in session, so that makes sense. Why not introduce yourself?"

"'Introduce myself'? You mean saying my name?"

"Uh...yes." 'How does she not know what that means?'

"I don't have a name."

"Then what do you want to be known as?"

"Hm…" her abysmal eyebrows scrunched up. "I guess you can call me...Kuro Kama no Menma."

"Can we just call you Menma for short?"

"I don't care. Names are just titles anyway."

"Yeah...I guess so." 'What a strange girl...'

Menma seemed to scan the entire room. "So these are going to be my peers? I hope they can keep up, for I don't slow down for people weaker than me." Some took offense to this.

"Who do you think you are, talking down to us?!" shouted Kiba. Again.

"Someone better than you." There was no hesitance, no hint of arrogance. She stated it as if it were fact, and this drew out even more of the Inuzuka's ire.

"Why you…" he prepared to launch himself at the girl, but Iruka stopped it.

"Enough! You are NOT fighting in my classroom!." He turned to the blind child. "Mito Namikaze sits in the row closest to the back, in the corner with Sasuke Uchiha. There is an open seat to her right." Menma nodded, and got to what would be her seat for the rest of the year. "I will give you a few minutes to talk to the people around you, then we will proceed with the rest of the day."

Before Mito could ask anything, the Kyuubi spoke in her mind. "**Be careful, kit. I'd be careful around this one."**

'How so?'

"**She doesn't seem right...it's like she has something to hide."**

'That's not vague at all. I'm going to say 'hi'.' "Hello."

"Hello."

'See? She doesn't seem that bad.' "So…how did you manage to walk over here without hitting the sides of the other desks?"

"Being blind doesn't mean that I can't see, if that's what you're implying."

"Oh! You can sense your surroundings. Thats pretty advanced."

"It is."

Sasuke decided to use this as a means to ask the question solely on his mind. "Are...are you an Uchiha? You kind of look like one."

"An Uchiha? Not that I'm aware of. You do know that there are multiple people with dark hair out there in the world, right?"

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Embarrassed in front of the entire classroom, he went back to sitting there quietly.

"Okay, class has officially started! We are going outside to see if your taijutsu is still up to par." The class stampeded to the door, except for Mito, Sasuke, Menma.

"Follow us, Menma. We'll take you…" the blonde looked at where the new student _was_, and she wasn't there. "...to...the...nevermind. Did you see her leave?"

"No. It's like she was never there…anyway, we should get going."

"Right." The duo left the room, and when they got to the training yard saw shocked classmates. "Hey! What's going on?"

"That...that new girl beat us all here…" muttered Ino.

"Huh?" Following the stares, Menma was indeed waiting in the grass, arms crossed. 'But she was just in the room!'

"Well? Who's going to be my first challenger? Is it going to be the boy who tried to attack me, or someone actually worth my time?"

"Now you're asking for it!" yelled the Inuzuka, who took the place across from her.

"Make the Seal of Confrontation." said Iruka, and they did so. "Okay, begin!"

Like everyone expected, Kiba lunged with the intent to maim. "You're mine!" He made a swipe at her face, but Menma's arm blocked it with ease.

"In the void, I can tell all your flaws. You can not compare to me as you are." Using her free arm, she struck his stomach with an open palm strike hard enough to make him fall over in pain.

"Winner: Menma."

Said girl stuck her hand out for the downed boy. "Let me help you up."

"N-no! I can get up by myself!" he said stubbornly, and he forced himself onto his feet. "I don't need your help."

"Fine. Change that brash attitude if you want to survive in the real world." She left Kiba alone, without making a certain something.

"Menma, Kiba, are you going to make the Seal of Reconciliation?"

"Why? I know no one here and have been here only for a day. He is not my comrade, not yet. Who will fight me next?"

"I will. You want a challenge? Well, I'm told I'm one of the best here." said Sasuke.

"We'll see." Making the mandatory seal, they didn't move from their starting positions.

'Hm...she has no stance...that means she uses fast, uncoordinated attacks. She knows what she's doing...' as soon as he thought that, Menma closed in quickly and tried a kick, but the Uchiha was able to block in time, much to his arms agony. 'W-what was that?'

"A little chakra goes a long way, no?" Putting her leg back down, she tried a knee strike with the other one, which too was blocked. "You've been trained well."

"I had terrific teachers." he grunted out. 'Damn...so much power!'

"Unfortunately for you, this is over. I've seen all that needs to be seen." Seemingly getting faster in her attacks, Sasuke couldn't block or dodge the entire onslaught, ending with him barely standing.

"H...how are you so strong?"

"When you are subjected to the horror that is the world, you train like everyday is your last just to survive. Doesn't hurt that I had help along the way."

"I guess so...I concede."

"Winner: Menma. Again." Due to Menma's personal belief, no Seal of Reconciliation was made, but she did help him back to Mito.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by, and before she knew it Mito was back home, eating dinner with her parents. It wasn't like it used to be. Kakashi hardly ever showed up anymore, and without Anza, Mito didn't have really much to talk about...except for today.

"So, dad, why didn't you tell me about Menma?"

"So she chose a name, huh? Well, I didn't know what to think about her."

"...huh?"

"What I mean is that when I met her, something didn't seem _right_ about her."

"That's what the big fuzzball said too."

"**I hate that nickname."** voiced the fox.

'Don't care, it's staying with you for life.'

"Right, you two are on speaking terms. Anyway, follow any advice concerning her. When I sent Anbu to keep an eye on her, she would always lose them. She _knew_ that they, stealth experts that are nearly impossible to sense, were tracking her. One even reported that she looked in his direction...and laughed, as if it all was a game to her."

This made Mito and her mother stop eating. "All of them?" asked Kushina.

"Every single one. And her voice...it sounded forced. That cold tone, it's not natural."

"I think I know what you mean...when she was sparring, she seemed...more alive, but I've only known her for a few hours, so I have no idea who she really is."

Minato finished eating what was on his plate. "Can I ask a favor from you, Mito?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Keep an eye on her at the Academy. We need to know if she's friend or foe."

"You don't have to worry about that…" she muttered.

"You were going to do it anyway."

"Yeah..." The girl remembered something that had escaped her mind. "Hey, do you know why she would call herself 'of the Black Scythe'?"

"Not a clue. Maybe because of her clothes and fighting style, or even that seal on her arm?"

"Wait, that was a seal?"

The Hokage nodded. "It could be just be a specialized storage seal, but it's most likely not, considering that it doesn't match anything I've seen before."

Mito processed this information. "Okay, so all I have to do is watch a girl that could outrun Anbu and is possibly an enemy to Konoha. Sounds easy enough."

"Especially since you did it before." said her mother.

"That was once! ONCE!"

"**No it wasn't."**

'No one asked you!'

The poor blonde went to bed that night embarrassed and red in the face.

* * *

**A.N.: Oh, I'm going to enjoy writing Menma again, even more so this time since I have to stay in the Academy to build her up _some_. I'll let you speculate about the seal and her 'title'. It seems that Mito has taken up more than just Anza's ideals...**


	15. Chapter 15

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 15**

* * *

'Have YOU noticed anything strange, fuzzball?' asked Mito. She was doing her work, like everyone else in the room, while also looking at Menma from the corner of her eye.

"**Well, she hasn't used her right hand for anything, not even to keep the paper from moving as she writes."**

'But wasn't she using it during her two spars yesterday? And how _is_ she writing?'

"**You haven't noticed? Never mind, if you were caught looking at her paper, you would be marked down. She is channeling chakra into the tip of the pencil and leaving traces of it in the paper, using that to sense **_**what**_ **she's writing. A technique that not many use anymore, but it works. You make an excellent point though...why isn't she using her other hand now?"**

'She's a mystery...one that I plan on figuring out.'

"Okay class, it's time for your lunch break!" yelled out Iruka.

'It's lunch time already?' Looking at the clock, it was indeed eleven-thirty. "Wow. Today's going by rather fast."

"I'll say. I remember it being far longer before we ate." commented Sasuke.

"Well, I guess we should go get our food and find a place to sit at. Outside?"

"Outside."

* * *

"Hey, is that Menma? Behind the tree?" pointed out the Uchiha. The blind girls already dark coloration was even darker in the shadow, but was still rather easily noticeable.

"Yeah. Let's go sit with her."

"Why?"

"She's new here, Sasuke. We should try to become friends with her."

"_(Sigh)_ Fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a new person to talk to."

"Glad you see things my way." as the duo got closer, they noticed something. Menma was holding her right arm in a tight squeeze, as if she was trying to cut off all feeling from the limb.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people, you know." she called out.

"Oh, sorry. We didn't mean to, we just wanted to sit with you." filled in the Namikaze.

"How kind of you...but I really don't want to interact with anyone."

"Well, you don't get a choice in the matter!" Mito sat next to her and began eating.

'Straightforward...like always.' thought Sasuke as he sat on the other side of Menma. "Are you okay? You're holding your arm rather strangely."

"I'm fine. Well, I _will_ be fine in a minute."

"I can't help but notice that you have nothing with you. Do you have anything to eat?" asked the jinchuuriki.

"In a way..." Releasing the hold on her arm, she fished through her pockets and brought out a pill bottle. "_This_ is my lunch."

"That's not food."

"I know, but it's far more important to me than a meal." She shook it around a bit, and satisfied with the sound it made, she unscrewed the top off and handed it to Mito. "Could you pour out four?"

"Sure…" she did as asked, getting four chalky white pills into Menma's hand. "Are...are you a drug addict?"

"No. I'm only taking these because I have to." Popping them into her mouth like they were popcorn, she swallowed the medicine with minimal difficulty. "If I don't take them every day, It becomes hard to use my other arm for day-to-day things."

Mito saw an opportunity. "What happened?"

"Nice try, but you're not getting much out of me. All you need to know is that it broke and it didn't heal properly, so those pills are the only way to relieve the pain."

"Oh...well, do you want to take something from my lunch? You're probably hungry."

"No thank you. I'll eat after school."

"But that'll be a long time. Come on, you have to eat."

Menma _smiled_, not something that the two friends thought someone like her would be doing. "I'll be fine, Mito. I've survived without food for far longer than a few hours...thank you for caring, though." The others ate in silence, and after a while the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Menma stood up, flexing her right arm all the while. "I'm still amazed on how fast these work…"

* * *

"Okay, now we will be reviewing shurikenjutsu. Sasuke, would you care to show your skills in the art?"

"No problem." Grabbing three shuriken, he threw them all in one motion and with pinpoint accuracy into the dummies. "I've trained in this so much it's second nature..." he muttered.

"I would like to go next." voiced Menma.

"Um...are you sure?" asked Iruka.

"Stop underestimating me based on my blindness." She too picked up one of the multi sided tools, and threw it, missing by a rather large margin.

"Oh look here, miss perfect can't throw a weapon!" laughed Kiba, but he stopped when he saw how serious her face was.

"Let's see you laugh after this." This time, she was able to hit all the targets square in the head, a killing blow. "You have no idea what I can do."

Iruka, and pretty much everyone, was left speechless, but it was Sasuke who asked the question on everyone's minds. "How did you do that?!"

"If anyone bothered to check, you would know."

This caused the class' teacher to inspect the dummies, and he found what she was possibly alluding to. A seal on the back of the head, just across where she landed the shuriken. "Do you mean these seals?"

"What else? If you're allowed to see them with your eyes, I should be able to sense them with my chakra."

"You make a good point. Good job using what you know to your advantage." She stayed silent, the praise meaning nothing to her, and everyone got to throw the tools in time.

* * *

School was now over, and Mito was walking the streets of Konoha with her family. They had decided to eat something out tonight, and that meant Ichiraku's.

"So she's suffered an extreme injury, takes pills to cope with the pain, and knows how to make seals that can allow her to 'see' whatever it's on?" summarized her father.

"Yeah. She hasn't shown any signs of being against the village, either. Why would you let her into the Academy if you were worried about that? Isn't one of the prerequisites to 'love the village and hope to bring peace'?"

"You can say you want nothing but the best for the village, but it doesn't make it true."

"Then why don't you get Inoichi to read her mind?" asked Kushina.

"If I do that, it might tip her off, and that may have grave ramifications if she _is_ working for the downfall of Konoha. Ugh, we should probably keep talk about her at home. Lets just enjoy some ramen."

"Yes!" shouted both mother and daughter, and in a few minutes they were outside the best ramen stand in Konoha.

"I'm sorry I can't pay…" a familiar voice, at least to Mito and Minato, said from the bar.

"Don't worry about it! You must have been very hungry, since we could hear your stomach growling from across the street." a kindly male voice belonging to the owner, Teuchi, said.

The trio entered through the flaps holding the restaurants name. "Menma?" said Mito.

The black garbed girl turned her head at her name. "Hey." Her tone was slightly different. It wasn't as emotionless as it was. It actually had warmth.

'She really is faking her voice...' They took their seats, with Mito deciding to be next to Menma, and Teuchi already began working on their normal bowls.

"So how do you like the Academy, Menma?" Minato asked.

"So far, it's boring. All we've been doing is review things that everyone hoping to be a shinobi or kunoichi already should have mastered. The only thing I've found enjoyable is showing just how far ahead I am compared to the rest."

"Yes, I've been getting stories about that from my daughter. Effortlessly beating Sasuke is no easy feat."

"I'd beg to differ, but that's just me." The owner gave the Namikaze's' their ramen, and they proceeded to devour them.

As the redhead was eating, she eyed the blind girl, or more specifically, the mark she had. 'A seal on her arm? And Minato can't tell what it is?' Kushina finished off the bowl in record speed, stood up, and went to Menma. "Can I see something?"

"That depends."

"That mark on your arm. I want to look at it."

"Just don't touch it."

"I won't." Getting in-between her daughter and the stranger, she surveyed the kanji with her expert eyes. Around the 'weapon' portion, there was a ring consisting of six words of other, smaller words that tie into it, like 'curved' and 'blade'. No imperfections could be spotted in any of them. 'It _could_ be an advanced storage seal, with the 'ring' being a place to hold multiple weapons and 'buki' being where the weapon of her choice would be waiting for her call...but I can't figure out it's exact purpose either!' She stopped looking at it and went back to her seat. "That is very well made. Who wrote it?"

"Me."

This shocked the Uzumaki. "_You_ wrote it? And while blind?"

"I once could see this cursed world. It was then that I made it."

"Right...so, you know a lot about fuinjutsu, if that thing is any indication."

"Correct...but also incorrect."

"...could you explain?"

"This mark...has nothing to do with fuinjutsu. Well, kind of. It's...something more, something that only a handful know. I'm surprised, out of all people…" she chuckled, and turned to Teuchi's approximate location. "Are you sure it's okay if I can't pay?"

"Ah, don't worry about it! It's on the house for the day! If you want to pay me back, just come visit us again and get more ramen."

"Thank you. You and your daughter are kind people." Menma jumped off her stool and began to walk out. "Time to find a dark corner for the night…"

"Wait, you don't have a place to stay?" asked the Hokage.

"Nope. Don't bother offering me a place, either. I won't accept it. Oh, and tell your Anbu to stop following me. It was fun outrunning and scaring them at first, but now it's just become boring." She left, and vanished into thin air.

"'Out of all people'? What does that mean?" wondered Kushina.

"I don't know." said an equally confused Minato. 'Something more than fuinjutsu? What can this girl do?'

* * *

**A.N.: The ring was part of the symbol, it was just hard to see when Menma was introduced and Sasuke had no idea what it could be. The pills are important, mark my words. I don't introduce anything without it meaning _something_. I won't stay in the Academy _too_ long, maybe three or four more chapters.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 16**

"I just can't get rid of you two, can I?" said Menma. She has been in Konoha for a week and in that week, two people wouldn't leave her alone...

"Nope! If you won't make the effort to gain friends, the friends will come to you." said the enthusiastic Namikaze.

"I'm pretty sure that isn't how it works, Mito."

"When it involves her, it does." said Sasuke.

"And are the are people vying for my intention normal?"

"That happens when you act emo. The more detached you seem to be, the more that come. Bonus points if you are one of the top students."

"What Sasuke said. He knows about the subject of 'fangirls' more than anyone."

If Menma could roll her eyes, she would have. "Great...why don't _you_ have a fans, Mito?"

"Oh, I do, it's just that I politely tell them I'm not interested. You should do that if you don't want them to keep trying."

"Mito...that won't work in her case. Remember when Itachi…"

"Ooooh, right. They only got more determined when you became depressed, and she seems depressed all the time..."

"Exactly."

The blind girl had to suppress the urge to smack her own face. "Shouldn't you two be eating? Our lunch break doesn't last forever."

"Don't worry. Unlike you, we actually _like_ not starving on a regular basis." Sasuke opened the box that Mito brought for him and started eating.

A third box was passed to the black haired girl by Mito. "I got mom to make one for you too, so here."

"Thanks...I guess." She made a move to open it, but her right arm flashed in pain. "Urg…"

"Arm acting up again?"

"Y-yeah." Grabbing the painkillers, she shook it...but no sound came from it. "No! I'm out!"

"Will you be alright without them?" asked the Uchiha.

"Kind of. Without that medication, I won't be able to do _anything_ with it if it doesn't involve life or death."

"Odd choice of words...why life or death?"

"Because that's….that's when you have so much adrenaline going through you that you can't feel anything besides the need to survive."

"You've fought to the death?" asked Mito, getting a nod from Menma. "How did you get involved in _that_?"

"You...don't want to know."

"Please? You can tell me."

"NO!" All the other students looked in the trio's direction at the sound of her yell. Using her left hand, she scooped up some of the contents of her lunch and started walking away. "NEVER ask me that again."

The blonde watched as she entered the building. "I...I think I reminded her of things she didn't want to remember."

"You think? Come on, let's eat. We'll worry about Menma later."

**-_after school_-**

Menma was sitting on the roof of the Academy, her unmoving right arm radiating agony as she 'looked' over Konoha. 'Damn it...I _really_ need my medication. All day I've been lashing out at Iruka-sensei because of my arm, not to mention that I'm tired as shit and at this point can barely stand up straight...I should probably check if I have my sleeping pills too...' Checking the storage seal that housed it, she found nothing. 'Are you serious?! I left them in the forest?! Damn it, damn it, damn it!' An animalistic growl escaped her lips. "Grrr...looks like I'm going..._shopping_." The girl in black vanished off her perch.

* * *

'Security here sucks. Entered in through the back door, and there were _no_ guards. Eh, shouldn't be complaining. Just means I don't have to waste too much energy I don't have.' She used a henge, becoming a small beetle, and traversed the hallway until she came up to the main area. 'Now THIS is more like it. Employees wandering the aisles and people shopping. Too bad I'm going to fuck up their day...' Going into a corner of the store, she went back to normal and procured a piece of paper. Slamming it onto the wall, kanji erupted from it, and every wall was soon covered with them.

"W-what was that?"

"Why isn't the door opening?!"

As panic ensued, Menma made sure to stay behind a row of medicine to minimize the chances of being seen. 'I don't think I need to use my restriction papers...I don't sense anyone that would be a shinobi. I forgot how long these heists normally take if I want to be _nice_. Uh, I got to stop rambling before someone spots me.' Using her faster than normal speed, she was a black blur in the pharmacy, knocking out all civilians and employees...except for one, which the bandaged girl made sure to not be in sight of but still close enough that she could sense him in the immediate area. Using the basic voice change technique to distort herself heavily, she spoke from seemingly nowhere. "You. Do as I say, and you won't be hurt. Don't listen to me, and...well...how would you like to be stored inside a seal for eternity?" She leaked some killer intent for added effect.

The worker, obviously someone who never trained to be a shinobi, buckled under the pressure."Okay, okay! I'll do as you want!"

"Good. I want you to gather up ALL the bottles of the strongest painkillers and sleep aids. Don't bother trying to find something that would be harmful to me, it won't work." The man scurried away to find what she came here for. 'Too easy.' After what would be ten painstakingly long minutes, the employee came back with a large bag full of pills. "That is useless to me. Separate them, and tell me which side has what."

He did, despite shaking like a leaf the entire time. "Um...the painkillers are on my left, the sleep aids on my right."

"Thank you. I...I'm sorry that I had to do this, but I didn't have a choice. Forgive me." Menma blitzed him from her hiding spot and knocked him out cold. She opened up one of the bottles that would help her arm and took the amount she needed. "Now, to put these in the right seals, then I can rest…"

* * *

"So did YOU notice that Menma was a little...feisty today?" asked the blonde Namikaze to Sasuke. The pair had just visited the orphanage that housed most of the other Uchiha Massacre survivors and were now walking around the rather peaceful village.

"Yeah. It would seem that without that medicine, she gains a temper."

"'A temper'? Did you not _hear_ what she called Iruka-sensei?! 'A scar-nosed bastard of a man that can't even beat a twelve year old'! I can't believe she didn't get in trouble!"

"He probably could see how much pain she was in and knew that she didn't mean what she said...I hope."

"Hm...do you think we should buy her some of those pills? As we saw, she was completely out."

"But we don't know what brand she uses, Mito. Even if we did, how expensive would it be if it could eliminate nearly all the pain in an arm?"

The girl frowned. "I guess you're right...but it looked like she needs them badly."

Sasuke shook his head at how his friend was worrying about some stranger. "How about this: if we see her tomorrow, we'll ask about the pills. If she doesn't have anymore at all, we'll ask your parents for some money to buy them, since we're pretty mu-" The sound of a trash bin falling onto the ground interrupted his speech. "We're going to check that out, aren't we?"

"Yeah." Going to the alley way the noise came from, they could see a certain girl wearing a torn gi laying on the dirty earth next to the downed bin. "Menma?"

"_(Yawn)_...hey." She forced herself to stand up, but she had to use the nearby wall as support to keep her from falling back down. "What...what do you want?"

Sasuke inspected her. 'Her legs are shaking...as if she's doing her best to stay standing...or she's scared out of her mind. I'll go with the former.' "Are you okay? You can't seem to stay on your feet."

"You have no idea how tired I am. Haven't slept in days…" as if to emphasise that point, a long yawn escaped her lips. "...is this a good section of Konoha?"

"I...think it is? Why?"

"Because I need to take something before I pass out…" Using her now usable right hand, she brought a different bottle from the void. Opening it up, she poured out three and swallowed them. "Phew...that will help…"

"Help? Help with what?" asked the ever curious Mito.

"Sleep...can't sleep normally...need pills."

"You said you hadn't slept in days...how?"

"Meditate...wander mind, but it doesn't keep me as rested...oh, I feel them now…" She slid down the wall and sat on the dirt. "Good thing I got the strong stuff at that place...night, probably won't see you tomorrow…" Her head tilted to the side, body forcing her asleep.

For awhile, they just stared at her unmoving form and listened to her breathing. "We can't leave her here." finally said the jinchuuriki.

"She seems to be used to this...but no one should have to live on the streets." Sasuke turned to face his friend. "What are we going to do?"

"You're sleeping over at my place, right?" The Uchiha nodded. "Then we're just gonna take her with us."

"Are you sure? Your parents might not take kindly to that. Wait, what am I thinking? They wouldn't turn away someone that needs help."

"Exactly. Now help me lift her up!"

* * *

It was hard, carrying Menma on their backs, but thanks to them having training at an early age, they had enough stamina to get to Mito's house.

"Could you open the door, Sasuke? I can't while I'm making sure Menma doesn't fall off my back."

"No problem." He opened it, and they marched inside, passing by Minato and Kushina.

"Mito." The blonde turned at her father's voice. "...why is there an unconscious Menma on your back?"

"She's staying over tonight."

"...but she's asleep. Don't tell me you two basically kidnapped her while she's sleeping..."

"...it seems that way, doesn't it? Do we have a spare room for her?"

"_(Sigh)_ Yeah, right next to the one where Sasuke normally sleeps in when he's here. You better explain this entire thing when you get back down here."

"Thanks!" Continuing their march, they went up the stairs and got to the room that her dad specified. 'I didn't know this was a bedroom...huh.' "Sasuke?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." This time, he kicked it open, revealing a rather small, plain looking room with only a bare white bed. Mito went over and with her friends help, they got her cargo onto the mattress. "Man, what did she take? Someone would think she's dead with how little she moved on her own."

"Well, she isn't, since I can see her breathing. Come on, I'm pretty sure mom and dad want that explanation."

* * *

**A.N.: A tired and in pain Menma is an angry Menma. Sleep aids and painkillers...just what happened to cause her to need these things for her everyday life?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 17**

"So...are you mad at me?" asked Mito as she sat with her parents. Ever since she and Sasuke dragged Menma to the house yesterday, they have had a disapproving look in their eyes and the young jinchuuriki didn't like it.

Kushina took a breath, knowing that her daughter was going to ask that. "We understand why you did what you did. If Mikoto was still alive and I saw her passed out on the street, I would have done something similar."

"Then why do you look so...unhappy?"

"Because, despite your intentions, you _still_ forcible took her away from her place of rest. Do _you_ know what she'll think when she wakes up and finds herself in a place she's never been in before, nor is it the area she fell asleep in?"

The realization hit her. "It...could be bad."

"It very well could be. She may even attack you. We're just worried, Mito. We don't want you hurt in all this." said her father.

Mito let out a sigh. "I'm glad you're not too angry at me. I was doing what I thought was right, you know?"

This caused her mother to smile. "That's all we want you to do. Just...just think things through, all right?"

She nodded. "I can do that." The sound of someone walking down the steps was heard, and a freshly showered Sasuke joined the family in the living room.

"Are we in the clear?" he asked to his blonde friend.

"You could say that...hey, did you happen to see if Menma was awake?"

"Well, she wasn't when _I_ woke up, and I haven't been back there to check."

"I guess we have to wait...I hope she doesn't hate us after today…"

"Yeah...I'd rather not be on her bad side. She can defeat me as easily as Anza could, and having her beat me down during every taijutsu spar would not be a good thing for my bones…"

"You two, stop thinking so negatively. Do that, and it will probably happen." advised Minato, getting the children to nod. Grabbing the remote, he turned on the TV…and was met with a breaking news broadcast.

"_-so what happened, exactly?"_

"_We were robbed at around three o'clock yesterday."_

"_Yes, you've already said that, but can you describe what happened in the store?"_

"_It's...hard to explain. It was a normal day, people walking in and out for their pharmaceutical needs, and then kanji started snaking it's way onto the walls. When someone tried to get out through the entrance, it wouldn't budge. Everyone started to panic, and it was at that time they struck, knocking all but me out cold."_

"_They? As in more than one?"_

"_I...I don't know. I only heard one voice, but it sounded...wrong. I couldn't tell if it was male or female before it forced me to get what it wanted."_

"_Which was painkillers and sleep aids?"_

"_Yeah. The strongest ones, too. Venlex. After I got them, it made me separate them and tell which side had what. I told them...then it apologized."_

"_Apologized?"_

"_As strange as it sounds, yes. It said it wished it didn't have to do this, but it had no choice."_

"_And do you believe that?"_

"_...I think so. It could have taken anything or even everything, yet all it wanted was the two things."_

The Hokage's eyes narrowed as he turned it back off. "A robbery in broad daylight...and no one saw the culprit?"

"It was a shinobi. Only ones with that kind of training could knock so many out cold in such a short amount of time." commented Kushina.

"My thoughts exactly. And that kanji...it has to be fuinjutsu. I use something similar to keep people from overhearing important meetings, so that means who ever did this has a high knowledge of fuinjutsu...or at least know someone who does. But why sleep aids and painkillers?"

For a few minutes nothing was said, everyone trying to think as to why someone would steal _only_ things that would help with going to sleep and relieving pain…

*Thunk, thunk, thunk* The sound of heavy steps disturbed their thinking, and they turned to the doorway to see a slightly more wild-haired Menma holding the edge of the frame and her head. "How did I get here?" she groaned out.

"You can thank Mito and Sasuke." said Minato.

"Of course I got kidnapped...is there any coffee?"

'Not what I expected to be asked...' "Uh...yeah. Would you like some?"

"Please. I don't want to move around too much while my head feels like it's spinning. If you have some sort of cream, could I have that in it?" He nodded and went to get the drink as the blind girl sat down next to the other children.

"Um...are you angry that we brought you here while drugged?" asked the blonde.

"Right now I can't tell, my thoughts are muddled since I just woke up. Ask me again after I drink some coffee."

"Wait, drugged? All you said was that you found her in an alleyway before she fell asleep." said the mother.

"I didn't mention that? Well, she took some...sleep...pills." The news broadcast rang back into her mind. "Uh, Menma?"

"Yes?"

"You were out of pain medicine at school yesterday. Did you get anymore?"

"Matter of fact, I did. I was barely able to pay for them."

"I thought you didn't have any money." chipped in Sasuke.

"If you look hard enough, ryo can be found anywhere. I was able to scrounge up enough over the week to buy a bottle." Minato came back from the kitchen with a black mug and handed it to her. "Thank you." The cup of coffee didn't last long, being gulped down in a few seconds. "It's been a few years since I had that…"

The Hokage chose to ignore the rapid consumption of the liquid and sat back down with his wife. "So...I heard that you take something to help you sleep."

"I do. Why? Is that a crime?"

"No, but if you take too much you could get addicted to it."

"You're not my father."

"I may not be, but I _do_ consider everyone in the village part of my family...that even includes you."

Menma scowled. "Take your words of wisdom elsewhere. I have no need of them."

Minato sighed. "And you were just so nice…"

"I was being civil. It's proper protocol when you are a guest in someones house...despite having no choice in the matter."

"Sorry…" murmured both Mito and Sasuke.

Hearing how apologetic they sounded, her face softened back to normal. "Don't be, you two have good hearts. You would go so far as to help a stranger you've only known for a week off the streets when all they did was merely tolerate your presence. Not everyone would do that."

"You...you were testing us?" asked the Uchiha.

"Testing you? I don't do that, but you may have earned a friend." As she got up, her right arm surprised her and gained that tingling sensation she knew all too well. "Already? I must have laid on it at some point during the night…"

"Yeah. When I checked on you after waking up, you were sleeping on that arm. Surprising, since you never moved when we brought you here or after we put you on the bed."

"...this is why I sleep with my back against the wall." Summoning the painkillers from her pocket, she was about to get the four she needed when the Yellow Flash's eyes widened.

'That's...that's Venlex!' "It was you."

"...excuse me?"

"Mito said that you ran out of pills during your lunch break. Yesterday, a pharmacy was hit after school hours and all Venlex painkillers and sleep aids were stolen. Now today, you have a what looks like a recently opened bottle of the stuff."

"I told you, I just bought this."

"You have the _exact same brand_ that was stolen."

"Different pharmacies can hold the same brand, Lord Hokage."

'Damn, it's just like talking to Danzo!' "Okay, then explain the fuinjutsu that was said to crawl on the walls. You take the exact same pills that were stolen and you just so happen to have told us before that you are rather well versed in fuinjutsu, which would be needed to create a barrier that keeps everyone from leaving the store. Face it, everything points to you."

The suspect didn't respond immediately. 'He's not wrong...I _did_ rob that place...what should I do? Plead innocence, or admit that I'm guilty?' As she was thinking of the pro and cons of the two paths she could take, she finally managed to get the right amount of medicine and swallow it. 'Even if I pretend I'm innocent, I'd have to steal again with how many I consume, and that would only bring even more suspicion and general unease onto myself. I'm too young to be thrown in jail for a petty crime like robbery...' "_(Sigh)_ Fine. You got me."

Minato shook his head at her in disappointment. "Why? Why would you steal from the citizens you might one day be protecting?"

Menma quickly lost whatever tiredness she had and blew up at him. "What was I suppose to do?! I'm dead broke! I can barely eat, the only reason I don't go hungry is because of Ichiraku's! Was I just to sit in pain for until the day I got the bare minimum to buy what I need, only to have all my money gone?!"

'Where is this anger coming from? She was calm just a minute ago...' "You could have asked for the allowance that all orphans get until they graduate from the Academy."

This only served to enrage the girl further. "NO! I won't take that pity money! I will _earn_ my keep, or I will _take_ it! That's how I've survived on this world so cold, and you saying it's 'not right' won't stop me!"

'She doesn't know how else to live, does she? I think I can help her...' "...so what you're saying is that you robbed that store...because you didn't have the money to buy the pills normally?"

"Yes, what are you getting at?"

"Well...how about I pay you to _not_ do things like that?"

"...explain before I lose my patience."

"Every two days, I will give you two thousand ryo for being an upstanding academy student until you become a genin."

"You know that a lot could survive off that."

"And if I don't give you the money, how much medicine would you take from others who need it?"

"...good point, but how would you explain to the store that the one that robbed them is getting away so easily?"

"I'll pay for the lost merchandise and tell them they won't have to worry about any subsequent attacks."

"I don't believe you."

"Just wait a sec." Minato got up, fished out his wallet, and pulled out the amount he said he'd give. "I will give you this today, and on Monday, stop by again and you will have another two thousand ryo. You can spend it however you want."

"...you better not screw me over."

"You have my word. As long as you don't do any criminal activity, you will be paid."

She thought about not taking the offer. 'I don't need it. I can just take whatever I want and he can do nothing about it as long as I don't murder anyone...but I want to pay Teuchi and Ayame back for all that free ramen...' "Fine. I won't steal anymore as long as you keep up your end of the bargain."

"Deal." Menma took the ryo from him and left the house without another word. "I hope I did the right thing…"

Kushina rubbed his back to comfort him. "Of course you did. She's just a young girl doing her best to survive when she has no one to turn to. What you need to worry about is the amount of paperwork waiting for you tomorrow."

Minato's eyes widened in horror. 'There will be an unprecedented number of complaints due to the robbery. I also have to get a total of what was taken from the store before I can give them money equal to the amount lost...and then there's the normal things…' "Why did I take this job?!" His family, including Sasuke, got a good laugh out of his misery.

* * *

**A.N.: I didn't know what to do. Either I could let Menma go without being found out when all evidence _does_ point to her, or get her caught, so I just went with the latter. Both felt like bad moves. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 18**

'It's so...quiet. I'm finally alone under this tree...and yet, I'm bored. Very, very bored. Damn...I've been around Mito and Sasuke too much. I can't even steal anything if I wanted too, since _someone_ passed a bill asking for shinobi guards in every major store. Eh, at least I have more time to-'

"Hey, Menma! Come sit with us!" shouted Mito, who was in a group that consisted of the other clan heirs and one non-clan kunoichi in training.

'God...dammit...' "Sorry...I don't do well with multiple people, especially when there's one that wants to pick a fight with me every other day with them."

"That's just Kiba's way of saying he acknowledges your strength. Come on, just sit with them for one minute!"

"_(Sigh)_ Fine! Nothing else to do anyway..." Popping some pills so she wouldn't have to worry about them later, she stood up from the comfortable shade and made her way to her...friend. 'Heh...I guess I can call her a friend...one of the only people I talk to on a normal basis.'

"Okay, this is Ino, her friend Sakura, Hinata, Shino, Choji, Shikamaru, and of course you know Kiba and Sasuke." The Namikaze pointed at each as she called out their names.

"Hello. I've only heard your names when you were called for a review of techniques. I take it your all Mito and Sasuke's other friends?"

"Yep!" chirped the Yamanaka. "And all we know of you is that you're one of the best students in class."

"And I want to keep it that way. Don't really need others to know too much info about me."

"Like how you won't tell what that thing on your arm is?" said Mito.

"Yeah. I will only reveal what purpose it serves when I get a jonin-sensei, and not a day before." This got an 'aww' from the jinchuuriki before everyone else started eating their meals.

"So...did you get that thing you said you wanted a few days ago, Ino?" asked the pink haired girl to fill the silence.

She nodded. "Daddy said that since I'm doing well in the Academy, I could get the new top. Wasn't really happy about the price, though. Nine thousand ryo!"

Menma raised an abysmal eyebrow, and not at the price. "'Daddy'? What a strange thing to call your father."

"It's a term of endearment. What do you call your dad?"

The change in Menma's face was easily readable. Her mouth slowly etched itself into a scowl, showing her clenched teeth, and a rumble could be heard emitting from her throat. "Bastard." She unconsciously leaked out a small amount of killer intent, revealing just how high she regarded the man responsible for her existence.

Surprised that one word could hold so much hate, it took a bit before the platinum blonde could respond. "Why?"

"Let's just say...I was betrayed. If I were you, I'd cut all ties with your parents before the same thing happens to you."

"Betrayed in what way?" asked Sasuke. 'If it's anything like what Itachi did, then no wonder simply asking about her father caused such a reaction.'

"As I said before, I don't want anyone to know too much about me. You're not getting anymore from me." She morphed her expression back to normal and changed position, now laying on the grass and facing the sky. "...I don't see why you like doing this, Shikamaru."

"_You_ can't watch the clouds." he lazily said.

"That's a good point. Eh, I think I'm done here. Nothing else to talk about, since all you guys want to do is interrogate me." Menma simply faded from her spot, probably going back inside the classroom.

Mito and Sasuke shared a look. "We need her to open up some. She's so antisocial it's...not healthy." said the Namikaze.

"I know, but there's nothing we can do. We can't force her to hang out with the others."

"Hm…" She started thinking, which disturbed her tenant's peace and quiet.

"**How about you take her to that orphanage you and the Uchiha like to go to? Maybe if she plays with those runts like you do, she'll become less solitary." **spoke the Kyuubi in her mind.

'That's not a bad idea! Thanks fuzzball!'

"**...I'm seriously contemplating whether or not to tell you my real name so you can stop calling me that."**

'Even if you do, I'll just keep calling you fuzzball, since it gets on your nerves.' She cut off the connection with that. "I got an idea about what to do with Menma."

"...do tell."

**-_after school_-**

"Where is she? Don't tell me she already left!" lamented Mito. Everyone had left the grounds by now, and she and Sasuke had checked the classroom, but their blind friend was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe she did...she _does_ just vanish from sight, after all. We would never know when she decides to leave."

"Hey." a voice said from behind the two of them, causing them to turn and spot their quarry. "I was on the roof, and out of nowhere I heard something about 'vanishing from sight'. I take it you're looking for me?"

"Yeah. We would like to know if you want to come somewhere with us."

"Which is?"

"An orphanage. It's been a few days since my last visit, and I think it's about time I went back there."

"An orphanage? Why would I want to go to a place ripe with sorrow?"

"Do you have anything else to do?"

"...damn you, using my boredom against me. Lead the way, I have no clue where it's at."

"I figured as much."

**-_a few minutes of walking later_-**

"At least it smells clean. That means it's well kept." commented the black haired girl upon entering the building.

"What, you thought it was going to be run down with squeaky wooden floors with splinters sticking out of them?" asked the blonde.

"Yes, but obviously I'm wrong."

As the two females were talking, Sasuke left them behind, went up to a door and opened it. On the other side was a room housing multiple beds and people with dark hair and black eyes. All were younger than the heir, with the oldest being about ten, and most were playing some kind of board game or talking. "I'm back!" Upon hearing his voice, they stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him.

"Sasuke!" The littlest ones shouted, rushing up to see him. "Are you here to play with us?"

He smiled. "Why else would I be here? I always make time for my clan." They dragged him into the room with that.

"They seem to hold him in high regard." said Menma.

"Of course they do! When they lost their parents, and in some cases, siblings, to Itachi, he personally went to each of them and helped them get through the pain."

"Why? Clansmen or not, he didn't have to worry about any of them."

"It's because he knows the pain of lose and how to cope with it. You see, he was best friends with my twin sister, Anza. On our ninth birthday, she fell off a cliff while attempting to clear a headache, and he and I watched as it happened. In the span of a few minutes, he lost someone important to him, when they were just smiling and happy only a little bit ago. While grieving, his brother was there for him and eventually he was able to move on. Now he just wants to do the same: be a big brother to the people that need him the most."

"I...see. Not to be rude, but why am _I_ here? I don't-"

"Do well with multiple people, we know, but we thought you might like seeing people that have gone through something horrible, but are still going through life with a smile on their faces."

"...I think I understand. Lets...go to the little terrors, I guess." They entered what is affectionately called 'the Uchiha room' and spotted Sasuke sitting with a couple of younger children playing _Life_. When they got closer in an effort to watch, despite Menma not being able to tell what would be happening, a small girl stepped in front of them.

"I've never seen her before...but she kinda looks like one of us." she said, obviously referring to Menma.

"Heh, Sasuke pretty much said the same thing when he saw her. Haruka, this is Menma. Menma, meet Haruka."

The blind girl bowed. "Hello, young Uchiha. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The girl now known as Haruka ignored the polite greeting and tilted her head in confusion. "Um...why do you keep your eyes covered? You can't see with them like that."

"I don't have them anymore. I'm blind."

"But...how can you see where you're going? Or others?"

"With my other senses."

"Really?!" She held up three digits. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three. That test is too easy."

Haruka put down her hand and gawked at her as if she was some kind of superhero. "That's so cool! Hey, do you want to play with me?"

"Sure. What do you want to play?"

She didn't even hesitate in her choice. "Shogi!"

"_You_ like playing shogi? You don't even seem old enough to enjoy playing that!"

"I'm six! And I like playing shogi! I bet I can beat you in a game!"

"Well, let's just see about that." The young girl dragged her to a shogi board, and they began playing.

**-_a handful of games later_-**

"Never challenge an unknown." said Menma after beating the small Uchiha at her favorite game...for maybe the fourth time. "I think we've played enough."

"Aww...I couldn't even win once…"

"Sorry, but I am rather competitive. Once you said you bet you could beat me, I had to prove that wasn't true...but you are _very_ good at this game for your age."

Haruka gained a big grin. "I've been told I'm very smart."

"That you are. You need an intelligent mind in order to play shogi as well as you did. How did you get so good at it?"

Her smile faded. "I used to play this with my mom and dad. I couldn't beat them, and I hate losing, so I always practiced. Now…"

"Now it's your way of remembering them, right?" Haruka nodded. "Were they good people?" Another nod. "Then...you keep playing this, and I'll always play against you whenever you want."

Her eyes widened. "You will?!"

Menma gave a soft smile. "Yeah."

"Visiting time is almost over, Menma." called out the boy she came to the orphanage with.

"There's a time limit?"

"Yes. All visitors have to be gone by six. 'So they can get to bed when they need to', I've been told."

Haruka pouted. "But I'm having fun with Menma!"

The bandage girl went and put a hand on her head. "Rules are rules. I'll be back, don't worry, but unlike Sasuke, I'll visit everyday. The Academy is far too easy, so I don't have homework, and I have nothing else to do after school. Would you like that?"

"Yes! We can be best friends!"

Menma chuckled at how enthusiastic the little girl was. "Well, I don't know about _that_."

"It's time, Menma." said Sasuke.

"See you later, Haruka. Be ready for another game tomorrow."

"'Kay!" The trio left the remnants of the once proud Uchiha clan, and made their way outside, but Menma stopped them.

"One second…" She put a hand on the door handle, and put the same seal that was on the training dummies on it. "Now I won't have to rely on you to take me here."

"One of your 'beacon seals'?"

"Yes. Now, I have to go see the Hokage. It's my payday."

"That means you're coming with me, since by now he's probably at home. We'll see you at school, Sasuke." said Mito.

"Right. Bye." He made his journey home, leaving the girls alone on their own path.

As they walked, the Namikaze turned her head to her companion. "'Rules are rules', huh? When did you start following the rules?"

"When your dad started paying me too, of course." They shared a small laugh, and continued on their way to the Namikaze Residence.

* * *

**A.N.: Man, these are taking a lot longer to make than they were only a week or so ago. Sorry for the later updates, I had things to do and terrible headaches that made it hard to concentrate on typing. I'll be jumping to the end of the Academy, since there's nothing else to write in before that.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 19**

"So...isn't Menma usually here before we are?" asked Mito to her Uchiha friend. Right next to her, Menma's seat was empty.

"Most of the time, yeah. I wonder what's keeping her? Doesn't she know what day it is?"

"I think the better question is...does she care?"

"Good point...she _did_ breeze right through every subject. With that seal of hers, not even shurikenjutsu was a problem."

The daughter of two seal masters furrowed her brows. "Which is strange...from what mom and dad say, most seals shouldn't do that. Only some of the most advanced ones can give a reading to inanimate objects, and even then they should have run out of the chakra she gave them."

"Unless she can give a lot of chakra to them, or she keeps replacing them." He shrugged. "It's not like she'll tell us anyway."

"Right." She made another quick scan around the room, which was now almost full. Even Iruka was there, so time was running out. "She's cutting it close…" The sound of wind rushing in the air filled her ears, and she turned to the now filled seat. "Oh, there you are! Where have you been?"

"In an alleyway, sleeping. Thanks to Haruka, I have to take more of the sleeping pills than normal. The little demon never wants to stop playing, and I can't tell her no! If she decides to become a ninja, I worry for whoever becomes her sensei!" as she spoke about the young girl, her two friends could see the smile plastered on her face and could hear the mirth in her voice, both rare things whenever they talked to her at the Academy.

"I don't think we've seen you happy before." commented Sasuke.

"Hm? Oh, I guess you're right. I...haven't had any real joy since I've been here. Well...besides starting to hang out with you two. You both are some of my few friends."

"It's nice to know that you consider us that, Menma. It's not good having none." said Mito.

"I know that...its just that I keep losing them...like the world wants me to be alone..." she trailed off in thought, and they heard something they never heard from her in all the months that she has been in Konoha.

Sadness.

Before Mito and Sasuke could ask what she meant or why she sounded sad, Iruka spoke. "Hello, class! As all of you know, today is graduation!" This caused an immediate reaction in the class. The more outspoken ones cheered out loud, while the others merely high-fived their deskmates. "Hey, don't start celebrating. You haven't passed yet." The commotion died down. "Okay, first you will be taking the written portion, then we'll go outside for shurikenjutsu and taijutsu, and then we will come back to test your ninjutsu. Menma, since you can't read the words on the test, I will read them to you after everyone gets a copy and you will be writing the answers on a blank piece of paper. Sound alright?"

"That's fine."

"Good. Mizuki! Hand out the tests!" the white haired chunin did, and Iruka took his place behind the bandaged girl. "You may now start!" The sound of pencils hitting parchment filled the room, signalling that everybody was focused on the task at hand. "First question...in a battle with Iwagakure Third Shinobi World War, how did our current Hokage defeat them while being vastly outnumbered and what does it show?"

**-_thirty minutes later_-**

"...and that was the last question. Do you need any repeats?"

"No, I got them all. Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

"No problem. It's not fair to have a portion on writing, and the only blind one not being able to have a chance at passing it when the only disadvantage they have are not being able to know the questions." He looked over the rest of the room. "Is everyone else finished?" The students held up their papers in response, causing Mizuki to collect them all and leave the class. "While Mizuki gives those to some graders, we're going to move on to the next part. Follow me."

Once outside, it was a rather long wait for Mito, Sasuke, and Menma to show off their skills in throwing ninja tools, but once they did, they rather easily took the top marks, with the two dark haired ones being tied for first. Mizuki came back around halfway through and was currently waiting in a chalk lined ring.

"Since shurikenjutsu is done, it's time for taijutsu. You must fight Mizuki until I say to stop. Don't worry, he won't go all out." It took a bit, but Mito finally got her chance.

'Yes...now I can finally hurt the demon without being targeted by the Hokage! Too bad that my plan of using one of the students won't work. More than likely that the only ones capable of stealing the Scroll of Seals will pass...but atleast I'm going to get _some_ joy out of today.' maliciously thought the chunin in the ring, unaware that someone could sense his thoughts to an extent.

"**Kit, I sense rather strong feelings of hate for **_**you**_ **coming from this man."** informed the giant fox to his jinchuuriki.

'Huh? Why would Mizuki-sensei hate me?'

"**Probably my fault. I **_**did**_ **crush a lot of the buildings and killed a lot of people the day you were born."**

'Great...what should I do?'

"**What do you think? Complete this trial, and let your father know when you get back home**."

'Oh, right.' Without giving her opponent anytime, she charged forward with her left hand stretched back for a punch and let it loose. Mizuki was barely able to block, not prepared for the girls speed. She tried a right hook to the face, but he simply leaned his head back and responded with a kick, which Mito jumped back from. She leaped back in, and all that happened for several seconds was nearly every blow they exchanged being blocked, with a few sneaking their way into their defenses.

'Damn, I didn't think she would be so good at this age. If I can't go all out, she can easily keep up with me. No...I won't let _it_ win so handly! I WON'T BE BEATEN!' Breaking the rule that was set, he went and used his real strength for one attack and hit the blonde in the stomach, causing her to sail out of the zone of battle.

"MITO!" shouted her friends as they went to make sure she was okay.

"What was that, Mizuki?!" yelled Iruka.

"I-I'm sorry! I must have accidently used too much! She was showing skills not usually seen in an academy student, and my body reacted to combat that! Forgive me!"

Iruka's anger dwindled a bit. "_(Sigh)_ Well, you'd be right about that. Mito _was_ having a better match against you than most of the others, but try not to do that again."

"I won't." 'That was far too close...I need to keep my emotions in check...'

With the kids, Mito had recovered from her little tumble and was sitting up holding her stomach. "Ow...that hurt…"

"If you had watched his movements, you could have taken that hit and continued fighting." criticized Menma.

"I know, but I was too focused on attacking at that moment…" she said in a depressed voice.

"_(Sigh) _Just take it easy until the ninjutsu portion. Don't need you to harm yourself by walking around while your stomach is in pain."

After awhile, it was Sasuke's turn, and he used every advantage he could get. Upon entering the circle, he activated his sharingan so that if the instructor decided to do more than what was allowed, he could have a better chance of dodging. This in turn made it nearly impossible for Mizuki to land a blow on him while he was handicapped, and the Uchiha could consecutively land hits on him, so Iruka put a stop to it.

"Enough! I think the fight doesn't have to go on anymore." Sasuke nodded and walked back to Mito. "Now, the last fight of the taijutsu portion: Menma, it's your turn." She seemingly teleported to the ring and, like every spar she was in, took no stance.

"I'm ready...but I'm not in a good mood now, so this 'battle' won't be entertaining."

"Cocky one, aren't you?" said her opponent. 'I never liked this one...always so..._perfect_, could do everything a normal student could do and gets special treatment...no, Mizuki, concentrate...don't lose yourself yet.'

"No. You might have to hold back...but I don't. Even though Mito could have taken your attack if she was more cautious, YOU are also at fault. A normal genin can't respond to a rapid increase in skill like that, so I will punish you where the system won't. Come at me." Mizuki obliged, and when he got to the other side he tried to hit Menma's face, but her arm stopped his, and she punched him right under his sternum with enough force to launch him out of the ring. Mizuki began tumbling on the ground, but eventually his body stopped rolling, and he layed there, unmoving and, if the groans meant anything, in pain.

"What...what did you do?" said Iruka. 'Such a strong attack...'

"I did the exact same thing he did to my friend, except he probably has some cracked ribs. I think we can move on, right?" Not waiting for his answer, she went back to the now fine Mito and the classmates went back inside.

"**Strange...when Menma hit Mizuki, I felt...something. Something that shouldn't be here, but it was gone in an instant, so I couldn't get a good read on it. Now **_**I**_ **want to know her secrets…"** said the Kyuubi as the students waited for Iruka.

'What do you mean? I didn't sense anything.'

"**Hm...maybe I'm going crazy from being locked up then. If I felt it, then you should have to...unless you can't yet. Nonetheless, we're going to have to keep an even closer eye on her."**

'Um...okay...you're confusing me, but I'll do that.' At that moment, Iruka walked in through the door.

"Sorry about that, had to get someone to take Mizuki to the hospital for medical treatment, since _someone _decided to up their game." he gave a pointed glare at Menma.

"...I'm not apologizing."

"Anyway, it's time to continue. Shino Aburame, you're up first!"

**-_half an hour of testing later_-**

"Mito Namikaze!" said blonde got up from her seat and walked to the front of the class. "Okay, I want you to do...a henge and create a bunshin."

"All right." Forming the ram seal, a cloud of smoke covered her, and a perfect copy of her father stood with Iruka before dispelling. Putting her two index and middle fingers together in a cross, she had to call out this technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Another 'poof' of smoke materialised next to her, and there was a second Mito.

"Kage Bunshin? You're parents taught it to you?"

"Yeah. Said that it might be too hard for me to make a normal bunshin, with my reserves."

"Well, you pass!" He handed her a forehead protector and after high-fiving her clone, she returned to her seat. Since he was going in alphabetical order, Sasuke had to wait a little longer before his turn. "Sasuke, kawarimi with this chair, then make a bunshin." He nodded and did the two things effortlessly. Iruka gave him his forehead protector and called out the last student. "You're up, Menma." Immediately, Sasuke was replaced with the girl, saving him the walk back. "I...guess you don't need to be tested for the kawarimi like I was going to have you do. So...by now you know what's next."

"I do...but I wish Mito didn't make a Kage Bunshin, because I don't like being showed up." She crossed her fingers. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A tangible clone formed next to her.

"Okay, how did _you_ learn that?"

"Do you honestly think I will tell? Just hand me the headband so I can get out of here." He did, and turned to the rest of the class.

"Congratulations to the twenty-seven who passed! Come back in three days time to get your team and sensei!" The students stormed out, and before Menma could vanish into the streets, Mito and Sasuke came up to her.

"Hey, why don't you come over later? Mom said that if me or Sasuke passed, she would throw a celebratory dinner and that we could invite a few people."

"...why are you asking _me_ when there are other people you've known longer?"

"Unlike Ino and the others...you don't have anyone to throw you one. So...what do you say?"

"What time will it be served?"

"Um...around...six, I think? Maybe seven?"

"...I'll be there, but I have to spend time with Haruka first. See you in a few hours." She disappeared in that ghost-like fashion.

"Well, she said she'll turn up. Our job is done. Let's go, Mito."

**-_Hokage's Office_-**

Minato was looking over the dossiers of the graduated students that was just given to him by Iruka, but more specifically the one about Menma. 'So she knows the Kage Bunshin and defeated one of the chunin instructors in one punch...kind of disturbing. If she can defeat a chunin with relative ease, what else can she do? Her fuinjutsu is...phenomenal and her grasp on the basic arts are the highest in her class...I really hope she isn't planning something bad. She has so much promise…' The sound of the door opening brought him out of his thoughts and he looked up, seeing a one eyed, silver haired man wearing the standard shinobi attire: a blue jumpsuit under a flak jacket. "Ah, hello Kakashi."

"You called for me, sensei?"

"Yes. Come take a seat. I need to talk to you." The cyclops took the invitation and sat in front of his leader. "Last time time I talked to you, you said you were having doubts about being a sensei. Is that still true?"

"No. Since that day, many of the ones I failed came to me and said that my advice helped them become shinobi. It...gave me reassurance that I could pass on what you've taught me."

"That's good. I didn't like you being so distressed. Well, since you're still up for it…" he passed on three papers to his student. "I want you to take these as your team. I know that the people you usually test are the rookie of the year, top kunoichi, and the dead last...but you see, there's a new girl on the block, and she shook up everything."

Kakashi scanned through the first page. "Mito? You want me to test your daughter?"

"Yes. She considers you a brother, so if she passes, she'll have a better time following your orders, but that's not the only reason I have her on this team."

"Okay...next page is Sasuke...Kuro Kama no Menma? What an odd name...is this the one you were talking about?"

The Hokage nodded. "She's an anomaly. Will do anything to get what she needs, even breaking the law. She's also caused chaos for the Anbu the first few days she came here."

"How so?"

"Believe it or not, she could sense them while they were stealthing and vanish completely from their sight. She even laughed at them. It was so easy for her to lose them that _she_ requested that I get them to stop following her."

"Well...I haven't heard of that happening before." He looked over her profile some more, but didn't get very far since something caught his eye. "Blind?"

"Yeah. She has bloody bandages over her eyes, but she is by no means 'blind'. She can sense objects in her immediate vicinity and can put a seal on things that give her some sort of long range 'sight'."

"Wow...hm. Can you give me a physical description? You know how some things on paper don't transfer over to the real world."

"Sure. Imagine the darkest black you can think of and make it darker. _That _is her hair color, and her hair is long, has curls and pointed spots all over, as if a brush never goes through it. She always wears a black gi-like outfit without sleeves, and on her right arm is an unknown seal that says 'buki'."

"Sounds rather imposing." Kakashi read a bit more. "'Prone to anger without pills.' Sounds lovely."

"It isn't. Apparently, her right arm broke and didn't heal correctly, so it causes her persistent pain everyday. To combat this, she takes strong painkillers. I advise that if they do pass, get missions as fast as possible. Without money, she will rob stores for those pills, and after today I can't give her anymore ryo."

"Wait...she was the culprit of that robbery all those months ago?"

"Yep. She messed up and took out a bottle of the stolen goods right in front of me, but I let her go since she had no other way to get them."

"Hm…" The jonin stacked the dossiers of his potential team and stood up. "I'll look these over later. I'll see if they have the potential, so mark me as their leader for the time being. Bye, sensei." He went up in smoke and only the Hokage and the small amount of hidden Anbu was left in the room.

"I think I'm done for the day. I finished most of the paperwork, my daughter graduated, and Kushina will be making dinner by now. All of you can go home." His body was enveloped in a yellow flash, and he was back at his house, away from the stress of his job.

* * *

**A.N.: I can finally justify the Kakashi tag! It only took me nineteen chapters! Well, I guess I should do the occasional 'leave a review if you want' thing. Gives me a better perspective on if this story is okay or not.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 20**

"I still can't believe everyone made it through. I would have thought that at least Shikamaru would have been forced to take another year in the Academy." joked the Namikaze while the graduates waited for Iruka to tell them their teams.

"I tried...but it was less troublesome to pass." he called out while his head rested on his crossed arms.

"What _isn't _troublesome to you?"

"Sleeping."

"Of course…" She turned to Sasuke. "So who do you hope goes into your team?"

"Honestly? You and Menma. You because of multiple reasons, and Menma because she is the best here, but we're probably not going to be in the same group. Odds are that we'll be split up and never really see eachother again besides downtime between missions."

"...you just had to go all depressing and logical, didn't you?"

"I'm just saying that it's likely. We _may_ get on the same squad, but we have no power over it. How about we just let Iruka-sensei tell us and not worry about it?"

"_(Sigh)_ Fine. I hope the rest get here soon…"

Ten minutes later, the other children who passed showed up, which meant that Iruka could finally do his job. "Hello, my former students! After today, you will officially be out of the Academy and doing your best for the village's well being. Right here, I have everyones teams, so please be silent until I finish. Team One will be…" Mito zoned out for awhile, not hearing her or her friends names. "Team Seven will be...Mito Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha, and Menma. Your sensei will be Kakashi."

Her eyes widened at the mention of her older-brother figure. "Kakashi?! So _that's_ why he hardly shows up anymore…"

"Doesn't he have grey hair?" asked the Uchiha, getting a nod. "I only remember seeing him at Anza's funeral three years ago. What's he like?"

"You two! You can talk _after _I give everyone their squads." called out the chunin, getting a 'sorry' out of them both, and he continued on with his list. Before long, everyone knew who was their teammates and teachers. "Now, wait here for your senseis. They should be here any minute."

"Please tell me the rumors aren't true…" murmured Mito, getting Menma to turn her head to face her.

"What rumors?"

"Well, from what dad says, Kakashi never shows up on time, always an hour late at least...but he has a team to take care of now, so that won't happen...right?"

**-_two hours later_-**

The three of them were the only ones left. Even their former teacher got sick of waiting and left to attend to other business. "What was it that you said?"

"Not now, Menma."

Sasuke let his face hit the desk. "This is ridiculous...how is this guy even qualified to be a sensei?"

"You mean besides the points of him being a jonin and one of the best shinobi in Konoha? No clue, since I would have thought he knew how important being on time is…"

The blind one shook her head. "How about you two stop complaining and think for a minute? A ninja is also suppose to have patience, so he may be testing us without really 'testing' us."

"Ooh, maybe you're right! That would be an ingenious plan…"

"There's also the fact that I can feel a new chakra signature making it's way to us, so I'm pretty sure he's here now." As soon as she finished her sentence, the door slid open partially, showing a single black eye, tufts of silver hair, and a flak jacket.

'So sensei wasn't lying...I was suppressing my chakra heavily, and she could still sense me.' "Team Seven? Meet me on the roof. You have five minutes." He closed the door with that, and shunshined up to his specific meeting place…

"You took too long closing the door."

...only to find Menma sitting down on the cold, hard floor. 'It's just like Iruka said...already there before anyone else...' "You know how to use the shunshin?"

"Yeah. Surprised that neither Mito or Sasuke know how to do it, but I guess it's not my problem."

"Hm...well, while we wait, is there anything you want to talk about? The weather, the state of Konoha, anything at all?" he said while he took a seat across from her and pulled out an orange book.

"Yes. Are we going to be doing missions tomorrow? I need to keep the flow of money coming."

"No. I'm afraid we have something else we need to do, but I don't want to explain it to you now, then explain it to your friends. Wastes time."

"So we think alike. Good, I'd hate to have a leader that will clash with me at every turn."

"Likewise." There they waited in silence, enjoying the quiet breeze as they sat on the flat roof...

*CRASH* The two of them turned towards the loud noise to see a now open door with slightly out of breath children.

"_(Huff, huff)_ We made it." said Mito.

"Yes you did. And in only one minute, too. Too bad your teammate didn't wait for you, though."

"Oh, we knew she was going to do that. Menma likes getting to places as fast as possible."

"Well, take a seat and regain your breath. I have something to ask you." They nodded and sat next to the bandaged one. "Since you have been put under my care, I want to get to know you. Introduce yourselves, tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams, those kind of things. I'll go first. I am Kakashi Hatake, and I don't feel like telling you my likes and dislikes. My dreams...I have some hobbies. Your turn, duckbutt."

A tick mark grew onto Sasuke's head. "Now people outside of the Uchiha are calling me that...great. My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like what's left of my clan, my friends, Minato and Kushina for more or less taking me in when my parents died, spending time with aforementioned clan and friends, training, and reading. I dislike my brother with a passion, watching Mito or her mother eat ramen, and anyone that would wish harm on the people I care for. Dreams...I guess they would be...making sure Mito stays alive for Anza, and finding Itachi so that he can tell me _why_ he killed his own family while they slept. Um...I don't have any hobbies besides training. That's all I've got."

'Phew...I thought he was going to be the 'avenger' type, with his sole reason for living to kill Itachi.' He looked at Mito. "You next, blondie."

"I hate it when you call me that…"

**"So how does it feel?"**

'...we can do this later, fuzzball.' The Kyuubi let loose a growl at his nickname before she cut off the surprise connection. "You already know who I am: Mito Namikaze. My likes are ramen, my parents, Sasuke, Menma, my other friends, learning new things, and improving myself. I don't like people who would use their knowledge for evil purposes or judge others before getting to know them. Oh, and alarm clocks. Those things are too loud...anyway, I do have two dreams. Succeed my dad as Hokage and bring true peace to the world." The sound of laughter echoed over Konoha, and it was coming from the black haired girl. "What's so funny?"

"I-I like you, Mito, but that's a foolish dream."

"Peace, or becoming Hokage?"

"The former. You _really_ think that's possible?"

"Yes! We're already in a state of relative peace, as dad calls it, so if we can get all the other countries to agree to never fight again, the world-"

"Do you even realize what the world _is_?"

"...huh?"

Menma shook her head in disappointment. "You are sheltered, blinded to the real workings of life by the very people you love. They would have you believe that there can be this thing called 'peace', but it's nothing more than a poor fool's empty ramblings."

"How dare you call my parents, Uncle Jiraiya, and even my sister fools for hoping for a better world!"

"That's because that's what they are! Take a look around you, Mito! Is this a fairy tale? A place made of sunshine and rainbows where everything is perfect? No! This is the real world, where humans lie, gamble, murder, use, abuse, love, and cause chaos simply by living! Why? Because that's what was written in our genes from the day we were born! Peace is impossible, since that would go against nature itself."

"But it _is_ possible! Don't jump to conclusions!"

"No it isn't! There will always be people who wish harm on others, there will always be people that hate someone else, there will always be a man who goes too far, and there will always be people who abandon their children like old toys! To achieve this 'peace', you would have to kill everyone! Can you do that? Can you kill off innocent men, women, and even kids to get what you want?"

"N-no...but…"

"You know NOTHING! All you have to go off are letters on a page and word of mouth, while _I_ have seen what the human race...no…what _every_ race does! Want to know what they do? Take every advantage they can get, even if it means someone has to die! I've done it, your beloved Hokage has done it, everyone who has ever hoped for your stupid peace has done it!"

Sasuke and Kakashi just watched as Menma let loose the tirade of harsh words. 'She's...she's stomping on everything Anza believed in and what Mito took up...but why do I feel as if she has an inkling of truth? Itachi believed in peace, and yet he killed most of his own clan on a whim...is it truly in our nature? No...it can't be…' thought the Uchiha.

"**So much anger...I haven't felt a human with this much of it in a long time."** chimed in the fox.

'What should I do? I don't want her to be mad, but it seems like she won't calm down!'

"**I don't know, kit. There are so many negative emotions coming from her she alone could run the entire village for an hour if that's what powered it...but they have no direction, not even at you when you are the one she's giving a lecture on. I think she's been keeping all of it bottled up inside, and now she has something to vent all of it on."**

Getting no help from the Kyuubi, she had nothing to go on besides what Menma had already said. "Do you hate the world?"

"...no. Despite always saying how terrible it is, I still love it."

"Then why do you hold such a sad view on it?"

A scowl etched onto her face. "Live my life...live through my pain...go through my journey, then you will find out. I'm done talking about this, I can't convince you to change your dream." She quit facing Mito and turned to the jonin. "You may know me as either Kuro Kama no Menma or just Menma. I have very few likes, but they include Mito, Haruka, Sasuke, and fighting. My dislikes are too long to list. I..._had_ a hobby, but I can't do it anymore. I have a couple dreams: kill someone that has lied to me, and find my lost friend. I won't stop until I at least find a body."

"Wait, a lost friend? Why haven't you mentioned this before?"

"Since it's partly my fault for losing her. It's one of the few reasons I came to this village." She got up and walked toward the edge of the building. "I take it we're done here?"

Kakashi could tell she was talking to him. "No. I almost forgot, with that whole rant going on. You three need to do one more test to prove you can be genin. Meet me at training ground three at eight in the morning. Don't eat anything, or you might just throw it back up. That's all I wanted to do today so...bye." He went up in smoke in front of the other two.

"I wouldn't follow that advice. Everyone needs to eat, so if you're hungry when you wake up, eat. I'll be seeing you two later." Menma jumped off the building, and disappeared into the shadows.

"_(Sigh)_ I hope I didn't hurt our relationship."

"I don't think you did, Mito. If you had, I don't think she would have told us to eat while someone who by all means is our superior said not too. Come on, let's go home."

"You're staying over again?"

"Yeah. My house...only reminds me of the life that I lost."

"I understand. Mom and dad have said that if you wish to live with us, you can."

"I know, and I may take that offer, but right now I just want to go relax. That argument was rather draining to watch." They did like Menma before them and leapt off the building, using neighboring rooftops as stepping stones on their way back to the Namikaze Residence.

* * *

**A.N.: And _there's_ the clash of ideals I wrote about earlier. I hope the rant was enjoyable in the end, since it was a pain to get right. Next...the mark, revealed.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 21**

Mito was not having what you would call a 'good' morning. Ever since she woke up, she had a headache since one of the most annoying noises ever heard just _had_ to rear it's ugly head. "_Why_ did you set the alarm? Thanks to school, my body wakes me up at around five normally."

"I didn't touch it. _You_ must have forgot to turn off that function before going to bed, so you can't blame me." defended her mother.

"Ugh...sorry, can't really think straight right now...but I swear I disabled it right after I got out of the Academy...I'm just going to get the headache medicine." She got up from her spot on the couch and left the living room in search of the pills.

Kushina looked at Sasuke, who had just been sitting next to the blonde. "You set it after she went to sleep, didn't you?"

"I wasn't going to have her sleep in passed the deadline. She may wake up at around the time the Academy starts, but sometimes she doesn't wake up until eight or ten, and we need to be at training ground three by eight, so I'm not taking any chances."

"It won't matter. Kakashi probably won't be there. He usually is late to everything unless Minato asks him to be on time."

"Hm...that reminds me. I was going to ask Mito this, but since you're right here...what's Kakashi like?"

The Uzumaki put a hand on her chin. "Um...he likes to joke, normally aloof and distant, blunt, and very devoted to his comrades. Is that what you were looking for?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He didn't tell us anything yesterday, and I'd rather know _something_ about the man that could be leading us on dangerous missions."

"Seek info wherever available...you are on your way to being a competent shinobi. Your parents would be proud."

The Uchiha gained a sad look in his eyes as he looked at the ground, but smiled. "I'd like to think so. All I've been doing since that day is train, try to figure out Itachi's motives, and take care of the other survivors. I hope that I can one day avenge them...but I won't let it control me. Other people need me."

Mito walked back into the room, looking just a little bit better than before. "We're going to need another bottle soon. There's only a couple left."

"I'll get more later today when I go to the store, don't worry about it." Her daughter sank back onto the couch and continued to watch T.V. until it was time to go. As she followed them out the door, she gave one last piece of advice. "Okay you two, be prepared for anything. This is _Kakashi_ we're talking about, the last remaining member of Minato's genin team. If it's the test I think it is...well, I probably shouldn't tell you, otherwise it might ruin what he has planned. Go get 'em!"

"Will do!" Both children said before taking off for the remote training ground.

* * *

"I knew it! I _knew_ he wasn't going to be here waiting for us!" exclaimed the Namikaze as they looked around the clearing. Three poles near the water, she noticed, but no sign of their new teacher.

"We should have figured that when he made us wait, but of course we didn't listen to the voices in our heads…"

"I don't even see Menma!" Something dawned on her. "Hold on...do you think she even knows where this place is?"

"...oh crap. If the entire team isn't here...then what does that mean for the test?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure it wouldn't be good. Do you think we should take the chance of him being a few hours late and visit the orphanage? I think she spends most of her time there, so maybe she's there right now."

"Hm...I…" before he could finish his thought, the sound of wood breaking filled the empty air. "...why do I have the feeling that's Menma?"

"Because she somehow turns up when we talk about her. Come on, let's go see what that was." Following the sounds of _more_ breaking, they eventually got to the source...which was indeed the dark haired girl. Menma was repeatedly punching a rather large tree with surprising speed, which every now and then a new crack would appear in the impact zone.

She stopped the onslaught and brought her left leg back. "YAH!" When the side of her leg hit the side of the tree, pieces of bark flew off and large lines cascaded up and down, showing just how much force she put into the kick. "Hm...the trees here _are_ strong. That actually hurt a bit. I think I found my new training ground..." She put her limb back down on the ground and rubbed her knuckles. "Are you two done enjoying the show?"

"Oh...right...you can sense people. Um...sorry?" apologized the other girl.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I suppose you're surprised that I found out where this place was?"

"Yeah, kinda. It's too obscure a place for you to just so happen to be here before we were."

"I got an active duty shinobi to tell me. When he saw my forehead protector, he gave up the information immediately." Menma walked closer to the duo, but stopped just short of five feet and crouched. "Good thing you didn't come any closer. It would have been a terrible experience for you if you did." Waving her hand across something, the kanji for 'trap' glowed and dispelled. "I deactivated the defensive perimeter I had set so I didn't have to worry about intruders. Care to join me in training?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Training? But we have a test to do whenever Kakashi gets here."

"And that's the point of the training. To kill time...and also to keep in shape. Don't want to get lazy now, do we?" Turning away, she approached a tree and began walking up on it to one of the branches, where she hung upside down with her legs wrapped around the top of it. "So? Are you going to or not?"

"No thanks. I want to keep my stamina up just in case he makes us do something physical."

"A respectable choice. Mito? How about you?"

"I'm going to have to decline as well. I may have a lot of stamina, but I'd rather keep the tank full." 'There's also the fact that _someone_ won't shut up.'

"**I **_**know**_ **you must have felt it! Right when she kicked that tree, it was there! The same feeling as when she hit Mizuki! I'm not going mad!"**

'And what did you feel?'

"**I don't know, and it's irritating me! It feels familiar, but at the same time it just doesn't feel like what I think it should feel like."**

'Okay, so what do you _think_ you felt?'

"**Biju chakra, but if that was true, I should be able to feel it all the time, and it wouldn't be so...strange. Wrong, even."**

'Wait...she could be like me? A jinchuuriki?'

The Kyuubi was silent for a time, thinking through all the things that could be evidence to support it. **"...no. If she was, whatever biju that would be inside her would have made contact with me by now, if only to yell at me for all the times I made them feel miserable. I'm sorry, Mito. I know you want to meet another jinchuuriki like yourself, but that probably won't happen anytime soon."**

'I guess so...' She closed her connection to the fox and watched as Menma did upside down sit ups, but that was boring so she decided to ask something. "Hey, Menma?"

"Yes?"

"About yesterday...you mentioned a friend that you had before coming here."

"...and?"

"If you say what she looks like, maybe I can get dad or even Uncle Jiraiya to look out for her."

"No."

"No? Why not? It would help you find her quicker."

"I know that, but I don't know what your government will do when they find her. I'd rather keep her under my personal care, away from _that_ mess."

"Is...is she a criminal?"

"No. I just don't trust the powers in charge. All they usually do is make life worse for people that desperately need help, forcing them to fight everyday for what scraps they can salvage, which in turn is seen as a criminal offense, so they either get locked up in a cell with terrible people, or executed. My friend won't go through that fate...not while I still breathe."

Sasuke decided to cut in. "She's important to you, isn't she?"

"Yes. She pretty much saved me from myself. I...once thought I was worthless and contemplated suicide, but when I saw her going through a similarly tough place yet was willing to fight for her life, it rejuvenated me. After that, we became friends, and later, sisters. If she's dead...the least I can do is find her body and give a proper burial. Anyway, if you two aren't going to do my training regimen, you might want to find something to do. Be too lax, and the test will be far harder." She did one last sit up, let herself fall to the ground without injury, and began doing push ups, all without a single ounce of sweat on her face.

**-_two hours later_-**

"Yo. I'm...what happened to the trees?" asked Kakashi upon finding his students. Mito and Sasuke were currently watching Menma beat up another piece of lumber, her fourth in a row.

"Menma's training regimen. She's done about two-hundred situps, one-hundred thirty-three push ups, and this is her...tenth tree, I believe." said the Uchiha, who had his Sharingan on.

"You counted them?"

"Had nothing better to do. By the way, you're late."

"Sorry, I helped an old lady across the road, then on my way here, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around."

The now rather sweaty girl gave one last punch to the tree before walking over to the rest of her possible team. "They're the cause of all life's problems, aren't they?"

The cyclops's lone eye widened just a bit. 'And here I thought she was always going to be deadly serious.' "They seem that way, don't they? Well, I guess we should get a move on. Follow me." The genin-in-training complied, and he led them back to the clearing with three wooden posts. Kakashi went up to the one in the middle, pulled out a miniature alarm, and put it on top of it. "Okay, when I set this, you'll have two hours to complete my test, which is a survival exercise. You see, I have two bells hanging off my belt, and you must get them."

Sasuke's crimson orbs narrowed. "But there's a catch, isn't there?"

He nodded. "Right you are. Since I only have two, that means only two of you will pass. The one without a bell goes back to the Academy for another long year." He pushed a button, which set it for twelve o'clock. "Now, come at me with…" he turned during his sentence, only to find them gone. "...the intent to kill. Hm...this may be interesting."

* * *

"Doesn't something seem odd to you?" asked Menma to both of her 'comrades' while they were in their hiding spot made of foliage.

"Yeah. All teams that come out of the Academy have been four man squads, with one jonin and three genin." said Mito.

"Which means either this 'test' is a fake, or we haven't been keeping up with the times." lightly joked the Sharingan user.

"Either way, we need a plan. None of us can take on a jonin alone...but I _can_ make for a decent distraction."

"No, Menma. It would be best if we planned out our course of action, subtly lull Kakashi into a trap, and take the bells while he has no idea what's going on. I mean, you can put up that fuinjutsu thing again, right?"

"I could...but I think it would be easier if I just attack him alone while you two wait for an opportunity, take him by surprise and cut off the bells in the chaos. Besides, we don't have that much time to construct a good enough trap to fool a _jonin_."

Mito sighed, silently agree with her. "Are you sure you can do this?"

Menma gained a rather cocky smirk. "Trust me...he won't know what hit him." She shunshined away.

Now it was Sasuke's turn to sigh. "I hope we just didn't earn our way back to school…"

* * *

Kakashi felt a disturbance while he stood reading his book, so he looked up to see what was the cause. "You? _You_ are going to take me on alone?" 'This...does not look good for them, if she won't team up with the others.'

"Of course."

"Why? You're short, dark, and quite mysterious. It would be best to be stealthy, but you would rather be suicidal?"

"...yeah. Before we fight, tell me something: do you know that I take painkillers, and the reason behind them?"

"Yes. You suffered an accident which broke your arm, but it didn't heal correctly, so you take them to dull the pain."

"You're...half right. You see...I take more than the recommended amount, which is one or two. I overdose on it daily by taking four, but that allows me to fight without inhibitions. If I can't feel the damage my enemy is causing me, I can do more to them. It also allows me to do…" She brought out a kunai in her left hand and cut right above the seal on her other arm, allowing a thick stream of blood to cover it. "..._this_ without caring about how much blood I lose."

'So she's a reckless, unfeeling berzerker, more or less. Not necessarily good...' "And what was that to accomplish?" As if to answer his question, the mark behind the liquid started glowing blue before morphing into 'scythe' and little rivers of red water and kanji snaked their way onto her hand. She raised and held it out at chest level, and the blood and ink started jumping off her palm. The blood formed a thin line that was longer than she was, and the kanji used it as some sort of adhesive, overlapping each other until a holdable handle was created. As she touched it, the strange 'weapon' changed shape, gaining a slight curve, and continued to form, with a large circular head constructing itself at one end, and a dark red, almost black, curved blade oozed out of it. A symbol emblazoned itself behind the flowing edge...

The Uzumaki clan's swirl.

She brought her other hand on it, spun it a few times as a dark blur before planting the flat end onto the ground. "This...is why I decided to call myself 'Kuro Kama no Menma'. Meet Solitary Midnight, my trusty scythe of discord."

"The...the Uzumaki swirl?! Why is that on there?!"

"Let _me_ tell you something. The Uzumakis were feared throughout the world for their fuinjutsu, yes, but sometimes it was a case of mistaken identity. What this seal on my arm is, in fact, one of their most well kept techniques based on the belief that fuinjutsu can do nearly everything. I call it the Blood Forming Seal, for obvious reasons. The best part?" The scythe had an arc of electricity run through the handle, and the blade erupted in sparks for a second. "Due to it being of my blood, I can charge it with my elemental affinity with ease. So...are you ready to begin?"

Kakashi put away his book. 'This...could be harder than I thought.' "Whenever you are." After saying that, the girl charged forward. He arched back to avoid a fast upward swing that, if he was slower, would have taken out his showing eye, and kicked her away. "Going for the one eyed man's eye. Not a cool move."

"All's fair in a battle to the death, which is what I thought you wanted."

"No it wasn't. It was 'come at me with the _intent_ to kill', not to actually do so."

"Eh, it's all the same to me. You either beat me, or I _will_ kill you. I will not have a weak sensei leading me."

'She means business...and she can do what she says, too. Why was she even in the Academy?' Menma charged again, but vanished before his eyes. 'A shunshin...up above me!' He rolled to the left to avoid the descending girl, and watched as her tool got stuck in the ground. "Seems as if you're in a bit of a bind."

"Not really. I'm not the real one." 'Menma' poofed into smoke.

'A Kage Bunshin. So...where is she?' He heard something leap off some bark, and hit the ground in time to see his opponent sail overhead, land on another tree, and go back for him. Getting up, he brought out two kunai and blocked the attack with minor effort. "Did you really think that I wouldn't stand back up in time?"

"No, I just prefer these close quarters battles...makes me feel alive!" Breaking contact, she backed up and jabbed the non-bladed end at him, but he moved to her right...just what she wanted. Since the blade was facing away from her at the moment, she took advantage of the lengthy, curved design of the dark weapon and followed through, slightly nicking Kakashi's arm.

'She got me. Not a deep cut, from the feel of it, but she still got me. I'm not too used to those kind of weapons...wait, is it longer?' Indeed, the bloodedge had grown just a few centimeters, but her self inflicted wound stopped bleeding awhile ago.

"Thanks for not reacting quick enough. The longer we fight, the stronger Solitary Midnight becomes. It feasts on blood. My blood, your blood, it doesn't matter, it takes it all. Too bad it reverts back to normal upon dispelling." Not wanting to stop, she went back into the fight, with the silver haired man being far more careful this time. With her weapon formed of liquid and words, large sweeping attacks or jabs of the blunt end were the only things it could do, but since she could charge it with lightning at any time and it had a lot of momentum, he had to make sure he deflected it without touching the blade. This back and forth showdown went on for awhile, but things got harder for the jonin.

A lone kunai whizzed in the air, all thanks to Sasuke Uchiha. 'All that shurikenjutsu training finally came in handy. I better get down there and help her out.' He unsheathed the tanto on his back and leaped off the branch.

Kakashi could hear it coming, but thanks to Menma's unrelenting and unforgiving onslaught, he couldn't exactly move freely. He tried positioning himself so that it would miss him and hit her if she didn't stop, but true to her word, she kept coming, not worrying about anything. 'Damn it! Does she truly not care about herself in battle?' Before it could hit, he replaced himself with a log, which got cut in half and impaled. "How nice of you too join us, Sasuke." Said boy appeared at Menma's side.

"Was _really_ hoping that would have cut off the bells."

"It's going to take more than that to get them. Unluckily for you, you don't have much longer before the test ends."

"We don't need that much time. With the two of us working together, we can cut those off your belt."

'Good, good, their working together...now, if only Mito would just-'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" a female voice said from behind him. He turned, and saw at least ten of the blonde jinchuuriki. "So...what do you say to one against fourteen?"

"That...is a lot of clones." '_Menma_ was a challenge, but now that all of them are here...I can't hold back, since I'm pretty sure she will kill me otherwise.'

"I know. CHARGE!" Everyone on the field went after the lone shinobi, who proved why he deserved his rank. The clone squadron came first, and he dispatched most of them rather easily, but then the well trained Uchiha and clanless wonder joined in, diluting his attention with sharp blades. Sasuke thrusted his sword, only for Kakashi to change the attacks course with one of his kunai into one of the remaining clones. The two new challengers backed off for a minute, leaving Menma as the sole combatant against him. Luckily, he figured out by now how to deal with the scythe...that was until she stopped attacking, twirled with her weapon in hand, and swung it like a bat at him.

'That will hurt quite a bit if it hits me, blade or no blade.' He couldn't jump back or he would be skewered, so he jumped straight up.

'Now, while he's distracted!' "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted the boy on the sidelines, and now Kakashi had to deal with a large ball of fire midair.

'Nope.' He kawarimied with one of the surviving pieces of the log he used earlier, and found himself surrounded by more clones. 'She made more in advance...I don't think I need to test them anymore.' "STOP." The clones had started moving, but at the sound of his command, they didn't go any farther.

"But we need those bells." questioned one.

"No, you don't. The real you, dispel the clones, and the rest of you come here." Reluctantly, Mito did, and the three being tested stood in front of him. "Let me explain something. The test had nothing to do with the bells, it was, in fact, to test your ability to cooperate. At first, I thought you all failed miserably, with Menma pulling that lone man stunt, but it was all part of a plan, wasn't it?"

"...define 'plan'. I was just to distract you until the others felt that we could overwhelm you and take the bells." said the bandaged one.

"Hm...well, it worked, kind of. You were a surprisingly good opponent, forcing me to actually try until I learned how you moved. Anyway, onward with my evaluation. Then, while she was attacking, Sasuke joined the fray with a well thrown kunai that would have been very harmful had it hit. After you said that if you two _work together_ you can get the bells, I started to believe that there was hope for this team afterall. Of course, the moment Mito stepped in pretty much solidified your pass, but I had to make sure, so I kept fighting. That last triad of attacks showed me just how well you can cooperate in a pinch. So...you all passed. Congratulations."

All but Menma sighed in relief. "I thought we were going back to the Academy for awhile there…" said the Namikaze.

"Should have figured the bells were just a front for the real test. Who would allow a three man genin team?" Sasuke asked to no one in particular.

"Does this mean we get to do missions tomorrow?"

"Yes, Menma. You will not go broke because of your drug issue."

"Who said I was going broke? I have a lot stockpiled thanks to the Hokage, I just want to have more. Speaking of money...I think I'm going to Ichiraku's. A nice, big bowl for my fight against a jonin. Any want to come with?"

"Ooh, me! I can have Ichiraku's any day of the week!" excitedly said Mito.

"Sure. Their food is good."

"Well, you are my students now, so I'll go with. I will _not_ pay for all of it, though. I know how much Mito likes ramen, and I don't want to lose all my ryo blowing it on the stuff."

"Good call." said Menma, and the new Team Seven took off for the little stand for their first meal as comrades.

* * *

**A.N.: Now things are rolling. So...let me know what you think on the Blood Forming Seal, and where I got the inspiration from. In a way, I'm kind of glad Kishimoto didn't go too far into the Uzumaki's techniques, since I was able to make something like that up for this. Now, the biggest question is, how did Menma learn it, when nearly the entire clan is dead? Oh, and tell me what you thought of the fight. I'm still new at this entire thing, but like always, I did my best. I'm going to add Sasuke as one of the major characters in the list, since at this point, if he isn't...then I don't know who could be.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 22**

"Come on~...are you an Uzumaki or not?"

"How many times do I have to tell you...I am not part of your clan!" exclaimed Menma as she held on to a brown cat with a red bow on it's right ear. It was completely paralyzed, probably because of the strip of paper on it's back.

"Then how can you use that 'Blood Forming Seal'? You would need an Uzumaki to tell you how to make it, and most clans only tell their secrets to family members."

"Most are dead, remember?" Mito flinched, obviously not forgetting that small detail.

"Stop it, Mito. It's been almost a month since you started asking, and it's always the same answer." said Kakashi as he lead his team back to the Academy to tell of their success.

"But…"

"No buts. If she says she's not an Uzumaki, we are inclined to believe her as her comrades. Has Tora moved at all?"

The blind girl shook her head. "No, sensei. As long as the parchment isn't torn off, this little monster won't be able to go anywhere. When I make a seal, I don't make mistakes."

"So you say. How's the arm, Sasuke?"

"That little piece of shit got me while I didn't have my Sharingan on! Do we _have_ to return it alive and in one piece?"

"Yes, or do you not want your cut? I thought you would like the larger than normal amount of ryo you will be rewarded with."

"Yeah, sure, but that _thing_ put me in an angry mood. I think the cat's life would be more than enough payment."

"Not that I want to agree with Sasuke about killing a cat, but I kinda do. This is no ordinary cat, it was able to outrun us for an hour before we cornered it in an alley with a hundred clones. What's to stop her from escaping again, and some other genin being mauled to death?"

"Not our problem. We get paid, we pass on the load. Can we hurry up?" said Menma.

"Why rush? It's a D-Rank, we have the subject captured, and we've been chasing it for awhile. Don't you want to relax?" tried the jonin.

"Yes, but that can wait until later. I want my money _now_."

"_(Sigh)_ Fine. And I thought you were patient…" They picked up the pace, and they soon were back at the assignment desk.

Minato's eyes widened at the group. "You caught Tora already? I think that's a new record."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, with the combined efforts of nearly endless Kage Bunshins, Sasuke taking one for the team, and a paralyzes seal."

"It _still_ stings! That cat fights like a demon!"

He chuckled, both at the explanation at Sasuke's complaining. "You make it sound like a true battle took place. Anyway, you did your job." The Hokage turned to look at one of the chunins. "Get Madam Shijimi in here." The ninja did as ordered, and the Fire Daimyo's...rather large wife rushed in and stole her stiff-as-a-board cat from Menma's arms.

"What did you do to my baby?!"

"Calm down. I was just about to undo what I did to her." Reaching up, she tore the paper off the feline, which restarted it's functions...and she became horrified at what was holding her.

"Oh, you're safe! Come with momma, I'm going to give you such a good meal that you'll never want to leave again!" Madam walked away with the struggling and meowing cat in her clutches.

'At this point, you'd think she'd learn...' "Well Team Kakashi, you earned yourself forty-thousand ryo, ten-thousand for each of you." Minato reached for a stack of money and tossed it to the leader. "Would you like to take another mission? I have...walking the Inuzuka clan's dogs, painting the side of a few buildings…" he would have kept going, but the black clothed girl cut him off.

"Lord Hokage, may I respectfully ask for a harder mission?"

"Hm? You want a C-Rank?"

"Yes. We've been doing D-Ranks for nearly a month now, but Mito, Sasuke, and I are well trained in the shinobi arts, enough so that I believe we can move on to something marginally more difficult, at least. It would be a shame to waste our talents, now wouldn't it?"

"I...will have to talk to Kakashi first, but I also need to know if the other genin feel the same way." He looked at his daughter and her friend, awaiting their own evaluations.

"I think we can handle it, dad. Our team is full of strong ninja, we can take whatever is thrown at us."

"I agree with her. I have the Sharingan, so not much can get past me, Mito has insane amounts of chakra that can overwhelm any enemy, and Menma is a master at fuinjutsu, taijutsu, and using that scythe of hers. We can deal with C-Ranks."

The Fourth leaned back into his chair thought about it for a bit. "I see...well, I will talk to your sensei about this. You will know tomorrow if you can begin taking the higher ranked missions. Go get that wound cleaned and healed up at the Hospital, Sasuke, and I'll see you and Mito at home. Dismissed." All three children nodded and before they left, the silver haired man tossed the wad of ryo to Menma.

"When did I become the money distributor? I can't even see the damn numbers on the paper..." was what she mumbled before leaving with her friends.

Minato waited for the footsteps to fade into the distance before speaking to his student. "So...do you think they are ready?"

"More than ready. They have an extraordinary amount of teamwork for only being a squad for a few weeks, they almost never argue on a mission, and their individual skills are higher than what I thought they would be, despite knowing who trained two of them and the last one having that freaky jutsu that gets stronger in battle."

"Okay, but I'm obligated to ask you this: are you sure you want them to start doing harder missions?"

"At some point they need to, and it will help them grow as shinobi."

"I can't argue that. I said that exact phrase when I decided you, Obito, and Rin were prepared for something harder." He looked at Iruka, who had taken the opening in the mission distribution job since the school year was out. "Hand me the C-Ranks." The teacher gave him the rather small folder, to his displeasure. "There's not many…"

"Is an investigation for Takigakure available?"

"No. With the potential backlash, that would be a B-Rank, and even if it was, I wouldn't send out your team. Not yet."

"But we still haven't made contact with them. Hasn't it been around three years since we last heard from them?"

"Yeah. It's strange, an entire hidden village going silent like that. That either means they are working with another village and cut out of our alliance without our knowledge...or...no, the odds of that happening are impossibly slim. Either way, it's too dangerous for fresh out of the Academy genin, talented or not."

Kakashi had no choice but to relent. "If you're sure, sensei. What's left for us to take?"

The blue eyed man read through the first page. "It seems a man named Tazuna wants protection on his way back to his homeland, the Land of Waves."

"Sounds easy enough. We'll take that one."

"You don't have to take the first one I say, you know. There are more here for you to look at."

"No, no. It's the perfect mission for them. They'll get to see more of the world, learn how to act to clients, and test the extent of their patience."

Minato nodded and stamped the mission dossier with the Land of Fire's symbol. "You know the drill. Bring yourself and your team here tomorrow to get a full summary of what to expect and meet up with the client. You are now dismissed, Kakashi." The jonin bowed and left his sensei to get back to his long, tedious work.

**-_the next day_-**

"We're WHAT?!" exclaimed the Hokage's daughter as she stood with her team in front of the assignment desk...again.

"Yep. You're going on a C-Rank. I talked it out with your sensei, and we came to the same conclusion as you did: you're ready."

"And you didn't tell us at home?!"

The Yellow Flash was enjoying seeing how excited Mito was. "I wanted it to be a surprise. Today, you will escort a man from the Land of Waves back to his country. While escorting, you must protect him from bandits and wild animals, but the path there hasn't been known for attacks from either party, so it'll be relatively easy. Send him in." A woman nodded and left the room, returning a few minutes later with a grey haired, bespectacled man that wore a dark grey sleeveless shirt and matching pants. A white, slightly dirty towel adorned his neck, and he had a bottle of sake in his hand.

"So _this_ is going to be my 'protection'? They look more like brats, not ninja." As he spoke, it was obvious he was a little drunk, as his speech was slurred just a bit.

"I assure you, Mr. Tazuna, my team is qualified for this mission. We'll get you to the Land of Waves safely." said the cyclops.

"Hmph. If you say so. I'll be waiting at the gate when I get all my stuff together." Tazuna walked away from the shinobi.

"...great. We get to watch over someone that is ignorant of how much we trained to get here. This is going to be a wonderful journey." The sarcasm was heavy in Menma's voice.

"You're just going to have to deal with it. The mission should take a few days to complete. Be careful, all of you. This is an assignment outside of the village, anything can happen. Dismissed."

The genin and the lone jonin bowed to their leader, leaving shortly afterward.

Kakashi used their shared time travelling down the hallway to give some orders. "Okay you three, count your tools, supplies, and pack an extra set of clothes. From what I know, a round trip to the Land of Waves will take four days at least, so I'd prepare for five or six. This is your first C-Rank. Don't blow it."

"Right." Their leader used a shunshin, making them one man less.

"Why don't you come with us to my house, Menma? That way, we can see what we all have and find out what we need to buy, maybe even save us some money if one of us have something the other is lacking." asked Mito.

"...sure, as long as we stop by Haruka's orphanage on our way to the gate. I need to tell her I'll be gone for awhile, and I bet the rest of the Uchiha would like to know that their 'big brother' is not going to be in town, as well."

"You care for her like she's your little sister, don't you?" commented Sasuke.

That smile they usually see whenever she talks about the six year old grew onto her face. "Yeah...I guess I do. Maybe it's because I see a little of my self in her, or maybe it's because she reminds me of two people that I know..." She shook her head, getting rid of the smile. "We should focus. We can't make the client wait forever." Sensing the others nod, they ran as fast as they could, and they left the Academy behind.

* * *

"Okay, tanto's as sharp as it can get, pouches are filled with kunai and shuriken, bag has food and clothes...I think I'm set." reported the raven haired boy as the three regrouped in the living room. Kushina was watching them, not wanting to miss telling her child good bye.

"Same here. I have some explosive tags in the mix too, just in case something needs blowing up."

"And I don't need a bag. I have storage seals all over my clothes and body, I don't ever switch out of my outfit, and I don't need food everyday."

"So we're good?" asked Mito, getting a nod from both. "Okay then, let's go! We'll see you when we get back, mom!" She hugged her mother, and left the rest of the team in the dust. Sasuke too hugged the woman who was like an aunt to him and followed suit, leaving Menma alone with her.

"I am _not_ hugging you, if that's what you're thinking."

The Uzumaki chuckled. "No, and I wouldn't expect you to. We hardly know each other, so how about a handshake?"

"...I can do that." Sticking her left hand out, Kushina grabbed it with her own.

"I have no right to ask you this, but please keep them safe with Kakashi. I know you are stronger than them both. I don't know what I would do if I lost my last daughter and my best friends son all on one mission."

"Please, this is a C-Rank. Our lives aren't on the line yet." Releasing her hold on the redhead, she almost went out the door, but stopped at the frame. "Don't worry, Kushina. Sasuke is a good friend, and your daughter...your daughter is far too important to me to lose. As long as I can still draw breath, no harm will come to them. All who wish them pain...will meet the end of my scythe." With her damning proclamation, she left to catch up to her teammate, leaving a relieved, but somewhat confused, Kushina in the house.

* * *

"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up." said Kakashi, reading that dirty book of his. Next to him stood Tazuna, who now had a large travel bag strapped to his back and a pointed hat on his head.

"What, and miss out on our first mission outside of Konoha? I don't think so!" the excited blue eyed girl said.

"You don't think of us too highly, sensei. We won't back down from a challenge such as this." joined in Menma.

"Oh, I do, it's just that for once, _you_ _three_ are late."

"We visited the Uchiha before coming here, so you can blame them. They held us up longer than we thought." responded Sasuke.

"Sorry to cut in, but are we ready to go or what? I would like to get home." said the older man.

Kakashi closed his book, and looked over the children. "Seeing that they're all packed, yes. Let's get a move on."

"Yes!" the three genin said, and the group of five left the village for the island nation.

* * *

**A.N.: _Never_ trust a mission to the Land of Waves...and what happened to Taki? Did it just...trade loyalties, or did something darker happen?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 23**

"How much farther to your buddy, old man?"

A vein bulged on Tazuna's head from the blonde jinchuuriki's question. "We should be able to get there by tomorrow morning, and I am not that old! I'm still in my prime!"

"Your grey hair and wrinkles says otherwise."

"Then what about your leader? He has white hair, so he _must_ be old, right?"

Kakashi decided to comment. "Actually, my hair has been this color since I've been born."

The vein grew larger. "I figured, but I was trying to make a point. _(Sigh)_ I'll just let the comment slide…"

Mito, having her question answered, fell back to the other two genin. "This isn't very exciting, is it?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No it is not, but at least it gives us a rather good break after the whole 'Tora Incident'. That was a dark day for me…"

"Do you mean when she was able to get a good scratch on you, or that you lost your cool so easily?"

"...yes."

She laughed at his answer, then looked at Menma. "You've been awfully quiet since we departed. I would have thought you would have spoken to Sasuke about Haruka, at least." No response, just a mindless drive forth. "Hello? Menma? Are you there?" Still nothing. "Are you ignoring me? Did I do something wrong? Menma? Hey, Menma!"

"WHAT?!" she exploded, making Mito jump back. "What do you want? I'm trying to do something here!"

"S-sorry, I was just asking why you were so silent. You usually talk when you're among us, so it was strange not hearing anything." They walked a little farther in awkward silence, but the blonde was bored, so she asked something. "So what were you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to take a seal off my body. It's rather complicated, so it requires nearly all my attention to remove it."

"A storage seal?"

"No. Hopefully it won't matter if it's gone or not, but I'm preparing for anything." Suddenly, she stopped.

"Hm? What's the matter?"

'I sense two chakra signatures...over there!' "Uh...nothing." The abysmal haired girl turned her head to the direction she sensed them, and the children followed her 'gaze', seeing...a puddle, which was also seen by Kakashi.

'A puddle in this heat? And the forecast didn't' say anything about rain...something's not right.' He chose to pass by it, though, and his group did so too. Well, until Menma walked by it.

"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder." Small bolts of energy shot from her hands to the water, and two figures jumped from it before they got electrocuted.

"You bitch! How'd you know we were there?!" one of the men said. They both had Kirigakure headbands with horned protrusions coming off of them, matching gauntlets that had a spiked chain connecting them, and wore camouflage clothes.

"Nice try, using a puddle to conceal yourselves, but you forget one little detail: it hasn't rained here, so you must have brought your own water." answered the jonin for his student. "So you two are the Demon Brothers of Kiri, Gozo and Meizu. Why are you two defectors here?"

"Like we'd tell you that!" said the one with two horns, Meizu.

"Then you will perish." He heard a voice from behind him, but could do nothing as a black scythe embedded itself into his shoulder, then tossed to the ground and having his assailant pounce on top of him, kunai to his throat. His brother was forced to cut the connection so he wouldn't join him.

"Y-you? But…"

"Kage Bunshin." The clone next to Mito dispersed to emphasise that point. "Now...you have one last chance, since I'm feeling particularly nice. What are you doing here?"

"I...I'll never tell..."

"Then say your prayers." She slit his throat, and he choked on his own blood.

"NO! MEIZU!" Gozo tried to attack Menma, but Kakashi was far faster, and chopped his neck hard enough to knock him out.

"Well, that wasn't boring." He switched his gaze onto the young girl, who was just getting off the warm corpse. "You alright?"

"Yes. Wasn't my first time killing a man, and it won't be my last."

Mito and Sasuke looked nauseous. "Why...why did you kill him? You could have knocked him out like Kakashi-sensei…" asked the blonde.

"Because if we let him live, he could have come back for us later. I won't take those chances, not when my team and clients safety comes first. Speaking of clients…" Menma turned her body to face Tazuna, who had a light sheen of sweat on his brow. "Two missing-nin from Kiri...just so happened to be laying in wait on the path to the Land of Waves. Don't try to play this off as a coincidence, it'll only make your situation worse."

"I guess I have no other choice...if I told the real dangers of this mission to Konoha, I wouldn't have been able to pay."

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Of course it got complicated...' "You better start explaining, Tazuna."

"All right. My home, the Land of Waves, used to be a prosperous nation despite being separate from all the other countries. We grew food, made goods, and shipped them to whatever country wanted them. That all changed when Gato stepped into the picture."

"Gato? Of Gato Shipping?"

"The same, but don't think for a minute that he's as good as he makes himself out to be. That short man may be a wealthy and powerful business magnate, but under all of that, he's a drug dealer and crime lord, buying assassins and mercenaries to take out all who get in his way. He bought all our shipping lanes, took away the free fee on imports and exports, and stole most of the cuts we should have been given. Without a steady income, we slowly lost all our money, and now nearly everyone lives in poverty. I couldn't take seeing my once beautiful home in such a sad state, so I escaped with the intent on restoring my country, taking just enough money to hire protection under false pretences."

"And how can you fix an entire nation?"

"By building a bridge to the Land of Fire. A bridge would bypass all of Gato's lanes, stopping his monopoly on us. Before I left, I got some volunteers to start on it's construction, but as you can see...I need help only shinobi can provide."

"I see…" He turned away from Tazuna and looked at his team. "You heard him. He lied to us about the perimeters on the mission, and it is now officially an A-Rank. It's out of our pay grade, and we should just go home."

"What?!" exclaimed the bridge builder, but he was ignored.

The now bloodied Menma shook her head. "No. We already accepted the mission, so we should see it through. Besides, this man has risked his life to save something he loves...we can't just abandon him when he's so close."

"She's right, Kakashi-sensei. We can't let such an evil man be in control of people's lives." voiced Mito, getting a nod from the Uchiha.

Outwardly, his expression didn't change, but inwardly, he was smiling. 'I have a great team. Even with the bigger risks, they won't run away and are willing to help those that need it.' "Okay Tazuna, since my team wants to, we're going to finish this mission. You won't be oppressed anymore."

The older man would have cried, but someone like him doesn't do that often. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me. I swear, when I get the right amount of ryo, I will pay you the amount you deserve."

"You don't need to do that, we're just doing our job." The jonin started to get closer to the unconscious Gozu, but his black wearing comrade beat him there.

"We should kill this one too. If we don't, he may follow us and try to finish what he and his brother started."

"We're not doing that, Menma. We can just tie him to a tree, send word that he's been captured, and let someone imprison him. We don't have to kill every enemy we face."

"Says you. I've survived as long as I have by not letting a single one of my opponents live, since every time I do, they find me later. You would be wise to do the same."

"Then I'm giving you an order. Step away from him and let me handle this. You are not the leader of this group." Gone was the rather warm tone in his voice, instead replaced by the cold edge that came with being a shinobi for so many years.

"Grr...fine. I'll stand down, but if this comes back to bite us in the ass, it's your fault."

Kakashi did as he wanted, tieing the missing-nin to a nearby tree in such a way that he wouldn't see his brother's corpse whenever he woke up. After making sure that the bindings were as tight as they could be, he went back to the waiting four. "Are we ready to continue our journey?"

"Yes." they unanimously replied, and they went on their way.

* * *

"So your house is through this forest? How far away _is_ it?" asked Sasuke.

"Since we pulled up at the town about...maybe thirty minutes ago...I'd say little less than a kilometer."

"Not as long as I was expecting, but still longer than I was hoping. At least we're almost there."

"Yeah...almost home free…"

All the way in the back, Menma lost concentration again. 'Another chakra signature...how many are there going to be?!' Taking the initiative for a second time, she threw a kunai into the bushes she felt it coming from, and a squelch came from it. "Got him." Walking away from her confused team, she went to see what she hit, only to find a now very dead rabbit. "What? But...I could have sworn I felt something…"

"Poor bunny...it was probably just eating, trying to survive the natural dangers in the world, and then it got a sharp object to the face…" said Mito upon looking at the animal.

"Great...make me feel like a jerk, why don't you…"

Ever the watchful one, the silver haired man noticed something odd about the rabbit. 'Why is its fur white? It's not winter around here, so that means that it was raised in an enclosed environment...probably for a kawarimi. If that's true...then…' Something moved through the air, something sharp, by the sounds of it. "EVERYONE! ON THE GROUND!" The client and his students followed his instructions, and not too soon, either. A large, strangely shaped sword sailed over there heads and imbedded itself into a tree. A man appeared from wherever he threw it from and stood on the mighty weapons handle. He wore a Kiri headband sideways on his head, mask-like bandages over his mouth, a belt across his bare, pale chest, and baggy, striped pants. His hair was jet black, and malice seemed to ooze from his brown eyes.

"No wonder Gozo and Meizu failed, the famed Copy Ninja Kakashi is here. I would like to fight you, but that's not why I'm here."

"Zabuza Momochi, ex-Swordsman of the Mist, wielder of Kubikiribocho, and known as the Demon of Kiri. What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Business. You see, i'm here for the bridge builder. Hand him over to me, and **I won't have to kill you all**." He leaked so much killing intent at their direction that Tazuna fell onto his rear, Sasuke and Mito started to visible shake, and Menma...was unaffected?

"Was that suppose to scare us? I have felt more killing intent from a dog, 'demon'." she called out, which helped snap her friends out of their fear.

"...I changed my mind. I'm just going to eliminate every last one of you."

"Then you have to go through me." Kakashi lifted his forehead protector, revealing a bright red eye with three tomoe surrounding it.

"Oh? The Sharingan so early? The brats have made you soft."

"No they haven't. If anything, they only made me stronger." He brought out a kunai, and readied it. "I won't let you kill Tazuna for Gato, Zabuza!"

"I don't think that's for you to decide!" He took his sword, vanished, and reappear on the nearby lake. "Hiding in Mist Technique!" The area was flooded with dense mist, making the missing-nin completely disappear before their eyes.

"Team Seven! Manji formation! Protect the client!" The children followed his orders, surrounding the man with drawn weapons facing outwards.

"You really think that will stop me?" Zabuza's voice echoed from every tree, from every inch of air. "You can't defend against a silent killer." From his technique, he stalked over to the team, no sound being made by his footsteps.

"Your a fool, Zabuza. Don't underestimate my genin."

The swordsman ignored his enemy's warning, and went toward what looked like a blind one. 'If she's a kunoichi, then she must have some way to sense her surroundings. Probably by sound or by smell...either way, it'll be too late for her to react.'

"You really _are_ a fool. Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" When Menma used the jutsu this time, great arcs of power leaped from her fingertips, forcing Zabuza to jump back and reveal his position to Kakashi.

Bringing out an extra kunai to combat Kubikiribocho, he rushed forth and caught the assassin as he touched the ground again, slashing at his arms so that carrying the giant butcher knife would prove too difficult, but Zabuza was no pushover in terms of speed, raising his weapon in time to block the attack. As they were at an impasse, the Demon of Kiri risked losing his defensive advantage and stopped holding his sword with both hands to take a swipe at the jonin, causing him to move his head to dodge it and slightly let up on the offence, which Zabuza used by pushing the wide tool forward, knocking Kakashi back and slightly dazing him. He put the famed sword back onto it's holster and ran toward the Fourth Hokage's student, jabbing a fist toward his face, but it was easily deflected and returned in kind. It also was blocked, and the two jonin-level opponents squared off in a taijutsu duel, with Zabuza having the luck of going against a Sharingan, so he was losing. He did, however, push him closer to the water and away from the kids, trying to get as many advantages as possible. Seeing an opportunity with his eye, the Konoha-nin struck the criminal in the jaw, then in the cheek, and while his enemy was reeling from the strong blows, kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling to the ground.

'Ugh...no wonder he's known as one of Konoha's strongest. He can easily keep up with me. Heh, I'm having fun, though. This is a true challenge. I want to see how he deals with this one...' Spitting out some pooled blood, he got back onto his feet and charged back into the fray.

'What's he doing? Doesn't he know that as long as I keep my Sharingan uncovered, he can't beat me in hand to hand?' Shrugging it off as being caused by the blows to the head, he threw out another punch...and saw a change in Zabuza's chakra. 'Uh oh.' But it was too late, his attack was going in at full speed and seemingly struck him, but 'he' exploded into water.

"Gotcha'. Water Prison Jutsu!" The liquid from the now ruined clone started to build itself around Kakashi, keeping him from moving as the pale man's arm stuck out right in front of his face. "I was hoping for better. Now I can get the bridge builder without much difficulty."

Back with the rest of Team Seven, they watched the whole battle happen due to the mist letting up a bit when Zabuza focused on using two other jutsus. "Damn it...he got Kakashi." growled Sasuke.

"What should we do?" asked the panicking blonde.

"You two, stay with Tazuna. I'll free sensei." said Menma.

"How can you do that? He's a jonin! You can't fight a jonin!"

Her response was taking Sasuke's tanto from his hands while an array on her neck flashed. "Don't worry…"

"**We got this."** This wasn't her voice. No, it wasn't even heard by anyone...except the Kyuubi. He knew this voice, one that he thought he would never hear again in his immortal life time.

"**C-C-Chomei**?!"

'Chomei? Who's Chomei?' wondered the Namikaze, only to not be heard by her tenant.

"**The one and only! We'll explain later, but right now, follow her orders, Kurama. From what I'm sensing, your jinchuuriki can't handle the chakra needed to fight this 'Zabuza', so just leave it to Menma, and lucky number seven!"**

"Yes…let's do this!" Red chakra seeped out of the newly revealed jinchuuriki's body and rose up into the air in streams, something that didn't go unnoticed by the mercenary.

"What the hell? What is this chakra I'm feeling? It's so...powerful…" He looked at his prisoner. "What is that?!"

"I...I don't know...but I think you've _severely_ underestimated my students."

"That's right, you have." Menma was now far closer, with a dark red chakra shroud around her. "Let me introduce myself...I am Menma, perfect jinchuuriki of the Nanabi, learner of secret arts, and demon in my own right. You wish to kill my client and my friends...I simply can't let you do that." From the shroud, two large wings and three tails grew out of it, giving her the appearance of a human butterfly. "This isn't a request, this is an order: RELEASE KAKASHI AND DIIIEEE!" Her speed was far higher, being around Kakashi's, and she struck Zabuza hard enough for him to let go of his jutsu and fly through the trees. The now free jonin sank to his knees and coughed up some water, and the girl stuck a hand out to help him up. "We don't have much time until he comes back. Take my hand, Kakashi, and let Chomei refuel your reserves."

"O-okay…" he grabbed the appendage, and instantly felt his chakra come back. Not completely, but enough that he could fight for awhile longer. "Woah...that's weird…" He stood back up, and Menma stuck out the stolen tanto.

"Take this, I think we're going to need it. Is Kubikiribocho special?"

"Yes. Many people have said that it feasts on blood, like your scythe, and uses it to fix any and all problems in it's blade."

"So it would be best if I don't use _my_ weapon...I guess I'll have to go at it old fashioned. The reason I gave you chakra is that at some point my painkillers will lose their effect, and with this much power going through my veins, I won't be able to handle it. We need to take him down, and _fast_."

"But until then, you can fight at jonin-level?"

"Yes. Now take the damn tanto! You know how to use it, right?"

"Of course I do, I was in Anbu for many years." He grabbed the short blade, and Zabuza came back from his involuntary flight, clutching his face.

"I have to admit, that hurt. So...I have to fight both of you now?"

"Yes, and you will lose. Prepare for your one way trip to hell." She dashed forth and tried a kick, but it was blocked by his giant weapon. Due to having such potent chakra as a powersource, a crack appeared on it, a bad sign that if it hit, Zabuza would be hurting far more than he is now. During the distraction, Kakashi charged in with his borrowed blade, with the swordsman barely able to avoid a deep cut. With it two on one, Zabuza was back on the defensive, his sword cracking more and more under Menma's absurdly powerful hits.

'Damn! At this rate, I won't survive for much longer! I have to go big or go home!' He kawarimied with a log, which was utterly destroyed by the jonin-genin combo, and tore off his mask, preparing a jutsu afterward. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" An unprecedented amount of water spewed from his mouth, rose high into the sky, and began falling back down at his assailants. It struck both ninja, sending them tumbling away like Zabuza before them. 'Now, the unknown!' He brought his sword back out and charged for the downed girl, only to be stopped by a quickly recovered Kakashi only a few feet away from his target. "Why won't you just stay down?!"

"Because my story doesn't end here! Yours, however, does!"

"Why? Can you see the future?"

"Yes, and all I see in yours...is death!" Zabuza was swept off his feet by the now back in action Menma, without her bandages, and he saw her prepare her own jutsu.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Before he could even hit the ground, he shot back into the air, sailing over to the nearby lake and landing in it. Hearing the splash, Menma cut her arm, forming Solitary Midnight, and she and her leader went after him. "Stay back, sensei!" Using her affinity, she forced as much lightning into her scythe as possible and poked it into the water, shocking the still under Zabuza back onto the surface. "Now!" They charged the now weakened missing nin, who began making the signs for another Great Waterfall.

'Not this time!' Using the Sharingan's powers, Kakashi locked eyes with Zabuza, making him slow down in forming his technique, and he started making the necessary seals. They finished them at the same time.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" Two towering waves surged from lake, and Menma rose into the air as fast as she could to get out of the dueling jutsus range. As they collided, the body of water they were on shook and rippled, but neither opponents were injured.

'Where's the girl?' wondered the ex-Kiri shinobi, and he got his answer from the strong chakra above him. Looking up, he saw her descending down on him, scythe poised to cut him straight down the middle. 'Like hell I'll let that happen!' Ignoring the very real threat of Kakashi, he brought back out Kubikiribocho and blocked the attack, causing his feet to sink into the water from the impact and his sword to heal slightly from the weaponized blood.

'Hm...a hole in the sword...how...inconvenient.' Now standing on the water, she started her own assault of swipes and jabs, slowly repairing the damage she caused to the blade earlier, but eventually she gained the perfect opening due to the other man gaining some fatigue. Using the small, blunt end of the curved tool, she was able to dupe Zabuza by hitting the sword twice, then changing it's course so that it got into the circle at it's tip. "You lose. Kakashi!" Menma ripped the vampiric weapon out of his hands. Kubikiribocho twirled around the handle, and Kakashi ran up to the fight, grabbed the sword's hilt, and made a diagonal cut to the left, while his genin made one to the right, chopping him into multiple pieces.

Zabuza had one last thought before he passed on to the afterlife. 'Looks...looks like you found a new master...I'm sorry...Haku…' The Demon of Kirigakure sank to the bottom of the lake, the place that would forever be his grave.

* * *

**A.N.: Well, that seems like a good place to end it at. I'm sorry if the fight wasn't too good, but I can't write a highly detailed fight without it being the same exact thing over and over. **

**Deltahalo241: Interesting addition...but then couldn't Gato have used Anza (or her body) to gain a hefty amount of ransom from Minato? He's a greedy man, as we know, and the grave is still empty. And I'm pretty sure I have it down in this story that she didn't have a half of Kurama before her death...**


	24. Chapter 24

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 24**

"_(Huff, huff)_ It...looks like we won, sensei…" The chakra cloak on Menma dissipated into the air, and with it gone fatigue set in. Solitary Midnight also dispelled, leaving the water near her feet even darker.

"Yeah...unless he can sew himself back together with no brain function, I don't think he's coming back."

"Good...hey, can you help me back to shore? Every bone in my body aches, and...and I'm barely keeping the concentration needed to walk on water."

"Sure. The least I can do for the one who saved me from my stupid mistake." Throwing both of the swords he had in his hands into a tree near the rest of Team Seven, he let her wrap an arm around his waist and they slowly made their way back. "I thought your affinity was lightning."

"Blame the giant bug. I was born with the lightning nature, and Chomei gave me wind release."

"Which reminds me...why didn't you tell us, or at least me or the Hokage, you were a jinchuuriki? That's important stuff to know."

"Because...it...never came up?"

"Well how were we suppose to know when you never used your biju's chakra?"

"_(Sigh)_ You have a point...but like Chomei told Kurama, we'll explain later."

"And who's Kurama?"

"Oops...let it slip...eh, just wait a bit before you ask questions...okay?" The jonin relented at her expense and when they got to their group he set her up against a tree so she could rest. "Much better...how are you feeling, Kakashi?"

"Like I've been punched in the stomach by Minato-sensei twenty times at full strength, why?"

"Sorry about that...that would be the biju chakra I gave you. See, I can't give you mine, your body would reject it outright, but a tailed beasts...it adapts, albeit slowly. Since I'm pretty sure you never experienced using it before, it strained your chakra coils. Might want to put down that headband before you pass out."

He did so, having forgotten about it in all the chaos. "Oh...right." The other genin crouched in front of their friend, and Kakashi went over to Tazuna to make sure he was fine.

"Where are your bandages?" asked the Uchiha, getting a small, painful laugh out of the blind one.

"You just witnessed a battle between three jonin-level opponents, just learned I'm a jinchuuriki, and the first thing you ask is where my bandages are? Ha...since you want to know, I don't think those old things were meant to take a fifteen foot tidal wave head on."

"It looks like you're sleeping." commented Mito.

"Having your eyes closed all the time will do that. I...guess I owe an explanation to you, huh? As a fellow jinchuuriki?"

"**Damn right you do! How the hell did you hide a biju's entire chakra signature so well?!"**

'You know she can't hear you, right?'

"**I don't care! I need an answer!"**

Mito put a hand against her head. "Please, before fuzzball splits my brain…"

"Fine...where to start?"

"How about when you called yourself a 'perfect jinchuuriki'. I haven't heard of that term before."

"Oh, that. Well, that means having total trust in your biju, and they you. In short, friends. It allows us to have all of their power at our disposal, a handy advantage."

"**Yep. You should try it, Kurama. It feels **_**so**_ **good being able to stretch your legs!"** the giant beetle said to his brother.

This rather carefree behavior confused the fox. "**Wait...you're actually **_**talking**_ **to me? I thought you hated me, like all the others."**

"**You're wrong about that. There were at least three of us, including me, that realized what you were trying to do. Gyuki and Isobu figured it out before I did, but we all knew that if we tried to tell the others, it would split us apart even more. Father wouldn't want that.**"

"**Then...then why didn't you contact me as soon as Menma met Mito? We could have begun talking again...being the brothers we should be."**

"**I...can't actually explain that. Hey, sealmaster, explain why I couldn't contact Kurama to everyone so I don't have to repeat it."**

'I'm sure everyone else wants to know to, so I shall.' "The reason none of you could feel Chomei's chakra is because I learned how to make a seal that can actively suppress a tailed beasts chakra to the point that it can't be felt. Only downsides are that it's a pain to remove, I can't make use of Chomei's strength, and sometimes chakra leaks out, mainly during attacks in which I use my own chakra."

"**So that's why it felt so strange all those times…I knew I wasn't going crazy."**

"**Yeah. What was that, the third time you put that on me? Do you realise how weird it feels suddenly having all your power gone, or at least the feel of it being gone?"**

'Stop complaining. It got us through the gates without much trouble, didn't it?' "Anyway, it's the same seal that I was working on removing yesterday and just before the battle. If I hadn't, I'd be...over there...and there…and there…maybe a bit over here..."

Sasuke and Mito's eyes widened. "Are you actually trying to be funny?" he asked.

"No...that's the pain and personality leakage talking. Damn...using five tails hurts a lot…gotta work on that." Lifting the arm that didn't ache as bad, she summoned a pill bottle and took the normal four. "That should help in a bit…"

"What makes five tails so dangerous to you? I thought you said that you could use all of his power." asked the Namikaze.

"There's a difference between having access to all the power in the world and actually being able to use it. I've only used five tails twice before, and each time I do it puts a huge strain on my body. I'm just not ready for it, but since my secret is out, I can begin training my control again. Now, enough questions about me, they can wait until after the mission." She forced herself to stand, with the other two flanking her just in case she needs help staying upright. "Hey, Kakashi? I want Kubikiribocho."

The older shinobi gave her a quizzical look. "Why do you want it? You already have a weapon."

"I want a proper tool, not one that relies on my blood. Solitary Midnight is best used as a last resort, since I could accidently make myself bleed out."

The team leader rubbed his chin. "Alright, you make a good point. Treat it with care, though. It once belonged to a fearsome shinobi, it's his legacy." The dark haired girl nodded in understanding, moved away from her friends and went up to the tree housing the blade, pulling it out rather easily. She also took Sasukes and gave it back to him. "So, are you fit to travel, Menma?"

"Yes. Took some pills, had some time to settle down, I'm ready to go."

"Great. Lead the way, Tazuna." The old worker nodded, and led them through the now far quieter forest.

* * *

"Here it is." said the bespeckled man when they got to his home. It was a modest, unpainted wooden building with two floors, just big enough to hold a family. "We had to move out of the village so that Gato couldn't easily find and kill us."

"Understandable." simply said the jonin, and the client went up and knocked on the door.

"Tsunami! I'm back!" Kakashi could hear the sound of someone running to the entrance, and it was opened by a dark blue haired women wearing a short sleeved pink shirt with red cuffs and collar, and a skirt as blue as her hair.

"Father!" She hugged Tazuna, who had a smile that Team Kakashi thought he'd never have. "I take it you got what you left for?"

"Of course I did! I am the super amazing bridge builder! I always complete what I set out to do!"

His daughter laughed at the boisterous claim, and looked at Team Kakashi. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for guarding my dad, it must have been hard with his personality."

The cyclops waved it off. "It's fine. We had worse things to worry about than upsetting him."

Tsunami became confused, and her father put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll talk about it over dinner." He turned his head to look at his escorts. "Come in, you are more than welcome to." The team bowed in thanks, and they entered the slightly rundown abode.

**-_little bit later: dinner_-**

"Okay, so what happened on the trip here?" the woman asked after giving everyone their meals.

"Gato decided to make his move. He sent three ninja after me, but I don't think he counted on me having my own. I'm rather lucky to be alive."

"That you are. If my team was any less well trained, that could have gone terribly."

"I know. If it wasn't for that girl, we all could be dead." As he spoke, he pointed at an eating Menma, still without eye covers.

"Eh, Mito and Sasuke could have freed Kakashi-sensei without my help. I just chose to do it myself. Less risk that way." she said in between chews. "Hey, do you have something I can tie over my eyes? I don't like people seeing my eyelids."

"We might. Tsunami, do you have any cloth left?"

She shook her head. "No. I ran out the day after you left, and I couldn't risk going into the village when Gato's looking for you. It's a wonder that we have any food left!"

"So I'll have to get used to this for now...great." whined the black covered jinchuuriki before she dove back into the food. As relative silence took over the group, the sound of someone going down the steps could be heard. A small boy wearing a green jumpsuit over his pale yellow shirt came into the dining room, just...staring at them all.

"Oh, Inari! Everyone, this is my son. Say hello to the people who protected your grandpa, Inari."

"Protected from who, Gato? Why even bother? He's going to send more, and they'll kill him eventually."

The happy look on Tsunami's face disappeared, replaced with one laced with concern. "Inari…"

Mito was not liking this kids attitude. "What's your deal?"

"Nothing, just my grandfather being an idiot for trying to build a bridge. We all could have lived if he didn't try to, but now he sealed our fates."

Seeing how callous this little boy was to his own grandparent horrified her. "What's wrong with you?! All he's trying to do is make life for this country, for _you_, better, and all you're going to do is spit in his face?!"

"All who go against Gato fail! He's too powerful!"

The blonde couldn't take it anymore. She stood up from her seat and started walking away. "And where do you think you're going?" asked her superior.

"Outside. I'm not going to listen to a little brats negative rants while I'm eating. I don't have the patience for it." She disappeared from their sight, and they could hear the front door slamming shut.

He sighed seeing how angry his 'sister' was. "Well, since the subject of Gato is fresh in our minds, do you two know where he is? It would make our job _far_ easier if we could find him."

Tazuna shook his head. "Not exactly. All anyone knows is that he began living somewhere on the island after taking total control, but no one actually knows _where_. Even if they did, the midget probably has an army of goons with him, making any attempts to attack him useless."

"Sounds like fun. I'll do it." spoke Menma.

"You think you can locate him?"

"Give me a few days and I will. I'll find him, and I'll kill him." This got an angry look from Inari.

"You can't kill Gato! He'll murder you before you even-"

"Silence, boy! I don't know what you've been through to make you think that Gato is unbeatable, but he isn't. He's a human, and a human he will be forever. He isn't this 'god' that can cause catastrophes just by waving an arm as you seem to believe." She too stood up. "I'll be leaving in a few minutes, but first I have to tell Mito what I'll be doing. Whole team needs to know, and all that." Sensing her comrades nod, she left the house far more gently than the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and found her punching a tree nearby. "I didn't know you started doing my training regimen." she joked.

"Heh, no. That's too extreme for me, I just wanted to vent my frustration out on something."

"Trees are good for that. Their hard and abundant, nature's perfect punching bags." This got a smile out of Mito, not that she could see it. "You shouldn't let what Inari said get to you. When you learned just how much I hated the concept of peace, you were angry for only a minute, yet here you are, still raging from what a little boy said."

"I know, but Tazuna risked his _life_ to save this country, and he doesn't even seem to care! No, all he cares about is how many things could go wrong, not considering that _we_, trained ninja, are here to protect them from those thugs and make sure everything goes right. It...it just irritates me!"

"Well, I'm about to prove Inari wrong. I'm going hunting."

"Wait, for Gato?"

"Who else? You have to cut the weed at the roots, otherwise it'll still grow."

"By yourself?"

"Yes. We need three people here at least, two to guard Tazuna at the bridge, and one to protect Tsunami and Inari, little prick that he is, so I can't take anyone with me."

"_(Sigh)_ Makes sense...be careful, okay? You may be able to use your biju's power, but don't over do it."

Menma chuckled at the worried tone in her voice. "I'll be fine. A few weak guards won't be able to stop me. Plus, I have people to come back to, people to enact my revenge on, and someone to find. I'm not dying yet." She turned away and started her march into the woods, leaving the other girl alone.

'Do you think she can do it? Find Gato before the bridge is built and we have to leave?'

"**I'd be surprised if she couldn't. Chomei is the world's most powerful insect, and he can get info out of his kind...kind of like your 'Aburame' clan. You don't have to worry about her, kit."**

'You're right. She's been able to do everything she says she can, so all we can do is wait. Let's go back inside, Kurama. It's getting a little chilly, and I think I'm not as frustrated as I was just a minute ago.'

"**Goddammit...how'd you figure it out? I never told you my name!"**

'Chakra to the ears while Menma and Kakashi-sensei fought Zabuza on the lake. She said 'like Chomei told Kurama', and since that name didn't match any of us, it wasn't hard to pin it to you. Still gonna call you fuzzball most of the time, though.'

"**...I hate you."**

'Love you too.' Getting back on track, she re-entered the house, and was glad that Inari didn't seem to want to keep on saying Gato will always win.

**-_a few days later_-**

Nothing was going the way it should be for the relentless businessman that single handedly took over an entire country. 'First the so-called 'Demon Brothers' get themselves captured, than I don't get any word from Zabuza _or _his little toy Haku, and now Tazuna is back, building that bridge with fucking bodyguards! My hold on this investment is weakening, might as well get out of here before the press get legitimate evidence on me!' The short man started running around his master bedroom, destroying his computer, and making sure all the cash in the room was either in his pockets or in his briefcase.

The door to his room slammed open, with a scream of pain being heard from behind it. "Heeeeey, Gato!" A sultry, feminine voice echoed around the room as the secret crime lord started feeling his blood pressure rising. "I've been looking _everywhere_ for you…"

"YOU! How dare you come back here after ruining everything I had planned with the Land of Water!" He turned around, only to see a short, but still taller than him, dark garbed girl with the blackest hair he's ever seen leaning on the frame, arms crossed. "Wait...you're not her…"

"Oh, but I am. Don't you recognize me? No? How about my voice?"

"I...I do, but if that's true...then you look a lot shorter than the last time I saw you."

"I do? It doesn't matter. I must thank you, though, for getting me into the Land of Water under the radar all those months ago. Shame the same couldn't be said about your emissary." A cruel, teasing smile snaked upon her lips as sweat started going down Gato's neck.

"I promised you a fortune, then you kill off all my men as soon as you reach shore, you traitorous bitch!"

"Sorry! I had to make sure they didn't turn on me, but all that's in the past! Let's move on to the future! The reason I'm here is because...well, I've been hired to kill you, but I can forget that if you...oh, I don't know...give me something _special_."

He grimaced, knowing that was going to be her request. "How much do you want?"

"_All_ of it. All that's in this house, anyway. I know you have a secret stash of ryo somewhere here, and I want it."

"I hate losing money, but if I pay you, I can walk away freely from this country?"

"Yep! I'll even tell my boss that I found your hideout, but by the time I got here, you were already gone. I swear on my mother's life."

"_(Sigh)_ Fine. If it means I can stay alive, then I'll do it. Follow me, I'll take you to the vault, Discordia."

"Eeeh, I don't call myself that anymore. It's...Kuro Kama no Menma now. Came to me while eating a rare bowl of ramen." She walked with him out of the room, passing by three human-shaped arrays of kanji right outside the door.

"What's all this?"

"Oh them? Those would be your men. They attacked me on sight for some strange reason, so I sealed them. Don't worry, I'll turn them back to normal..._after_ I get my money." They passed by an uncountable number of them before taking a flight of stairs down to a hallway with the highest security money could buy.

"Give me one second as I put in the access code, then you can leave...forever."

"Sounds good to me. I may not be able to see your face anymore, but I remember that it was ugly beyond all comprehension." She heard the man growl to her satisfaction, and after a while a *ding* resounded around the hall, lasers, kunai throwers, and spikes all deactivating. The duo continued their walk, and Gato opened the rather large double doors to a huge room with even larger stacks of ryo.

"Here it is...all the money I brought with me to the Land of Waves before everything went to shit. Take it all, I don't care. I have much more than this in other places."

"Uh...about that…" Menma summoned Kubikiribocho from the storage seal housing it, and pointed it at him with her left hand. "You see...you should never put trust into someone that once called themselves the 'Trickster Queen' when you are a scumbag." The playful tone vanished, morphing back into the one that she normally had whenever she's with Mito and the others. "Gato, you have squashed these people under your thumb, used them as money making machines, denounced them their very lives and things of happiness. I'm not letting you leave here alive, just like I did with Zabuza."

"B-but, we had a deal!"

"Your words mean nothing to me. Die with your shallow honor." Before the man could even move, she decapitated him in one swift swipe, letting his corpse hit the floor with a thud. "Ugh, I hate using that voice. Now...how much should I take for myself and give to this country?" Footsteps echoed from the hallway, and a Kage Bunshin bowed before it's creator.

"Ma'am, we have placed the explosive seals like you wanted."

"Even on the men?"

"Yes. Every wall, every floor, and every thug has at least one on their person."

"Good, good...the less loose ends, the better." She dispelled all her clones, gaining the savory memories of them drawing the deadly pieces of ink on the paralyzed criminals.

"**You enjoy this too much." **commented the beetle.

'They deserve it. All of them murdered others just for the sake of it, or had no morals whatsoever. The world would be better without them and you know it.'

"**I do, I do. Just making an observation."**

Ultimately, she decided that she would take one third of it and after stuffing everything in her nearly endless storage seals, she took Gato's still bleeding head and left the grounds with a shunshin. "This should be far enough away. Time for some fireworks!" The jinchuuriki made a hand gesture, and the loudest bang ever heard in the country came from the now obliterated mansion. A plume of smoke and flame rose into the deep blue sky, with no sign of rain anytime soon. 'Okay, I sense Kurama to our right...is that correct?'

"**Yes. You've gotten a hang of pinpointing other jinchuuriki."** After getting that confirmation, she summoned two tails worth of power, a safe amount, and started lazily flying back to her team.

* * *

Team Kakashi and their charges were wandering around the village, taking a longer than usual route to the bridge, and they noticed something strange about the populace… "Hey, why's everyone so...happy?"

"I don't know, Mito. Just yesterday they were subdued, with the only way to light a spark into them was to mention the bridge, and now it's as if they've regained hope again! Not even you using that clone-jutsu-thing to help rebuild rundown buildings brought this much joy out of them!" exclaimed Tazuna. A woman came running up to him afterward, tears running down her face, betraying her smile.

"Tazuna, Tazuna! You won't believe what's happened!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"A red winged child dressed in black came from the sky just an hour ago, with _his_ head! Come on, you need to see it for yourself!" The six man group exchanged glances before following her to the cramped center of the town. Forcing themselves to the front, they spotted Menma standing on the hilt of her new sword, which was sticking straight up from ground,

"People of the Land of Waves! For too long you've been oppressed by the tyrant, Gato! He took away your freedom, your way of life, and for some of you, even loved ones! Well no more!" She lifted the head in her hand, and showed off the shocked face of the man to the crowd. "I have slain him for you! No longer will you stay awake at night wondering if he's going to take your child or spouse! No longer will you have all your pays cut while he siphons off of your misery! But this wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have my team with me!" The citizens cheered and pushed Mito, Sasuke, and Kakashi up with their teammate. "They stayed behind to protect Tazuna, the man that will completely free your home from all that would abuse it, while I hunted down this sick waste of human flesh! We are Team Kakashi of Konohagakure, and we would be honored that when the bridge is finished you would enter an alliance with us!" The villagers cheers became louder, and they began chanting.

"Team Ka-ka-shi! Team Ka-ka-shi!" Menma hopped down from her perch and threw the head to them, where it was caught and tossed around like a beach ball. Inari came up to her with wide eyes.

"You...you actually got him…"

"Told you he wasn't a big deal." The small boy started hugging her. "What are you doing?"

"Thank you...thank you for avenging my father...I'm sorry for saying so many mean things to you and your friends…"

"Um...you're welcome." Her sensei walked up to the awkward scene.

"That explosion yesterday...that was you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. I found his base of ops, as it were, and blew it up after storming in and killing all inside. I take no prisoners." She turned her head to her client. "So how many more days until it's done?"

"I'd wager around four more. We can barely make out the shore on the other side."

"Good, that means this mission is almost done. I can't wait to get home and see little Haruka again…can I get my band of cloth now?" Tazuna's family and her squad laughed at her rapid change of subject, and the rest of the day passed on in a newfound sense of joy.

* * *

With the hopes of an alliance with the mighty hidden village looming over their heads, the bridge actually finished a day ahead of schedule, the workers determined to get their lives back on track. At the beginning of the monstrous structure stood most of the citizens, there to say goodbye to the people that saved their home.

"Do you have to go?" asked Tazuna's grandson. "Please, stay here for a little longer!"

Menma, with a new grey band, put a hand on his head. "Yes, I do. I have a sister waiting for me back in Konoha, but I'll visit every now and then, like Mito." The boy's eyes started to water and he began sniffling, but he tried his best to not cry. "If you want to cry, cry, don't hold them back. If you do, you go against the very thing that makes you human." He let loose after that, giving one last hug to the girl.

"Whenever any of you are in the Land of Waves, give me a shout. You always will be welcome here." said the bridge builder.

"Thank you, Tazuna. We're just glad we were able to help. Make good use of that money Menma pilfered from Gato." said the jonin. "Well, we should get going. We can make it by nightfall if we hurry." His genin nodded, and they started walking away from the country, waving and, in the case of the Namikaze and Sasuke, shouting goodbyes.

"Hm...we need a name for this bridge…" murmured the old man as he watched them go. "Yes...I think that will be the perfect name…"

**-_later, with Team Kakashi_-**

The team had left the bridge behind, and now they were tree hopping as a faster mode of transportation. Kakashi was out in front, and the three children hanged back in a group.

"What makes you think we would go into an alliance with them?" asked the Uchiha to his dark haired teammate.

"Why are you asking me this? Are you against it, even after seeing what they've been through?"

"No, but you pretty much promised that an alliance is guaranteed, when Minato, as the Hokage, could see their poor economy as a detriment to the village in the long run and decline the offer."

"Then he'd be an idiot. When they get their government, trade routes, and other businesses back into order, they're going to be making a lot of-" She suddenly stopped talking and advancing forward, head slightly turned to the left.

"What now?" asked the other jinchuuriki from a branch ahead.

'Chomei...am I hallucinating?'

"**No. That is **_**my**_ **chakra that I'm feeling, and that only means one thing…"**

Red chakra roared to life around her, forming three tails this time. "I have something I need to do!" She jumped off her own branch, utterly breaking it, and stormed off. 'I finally found you...you're not leaving me this time!'

* * *

**A.N.: I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to split this chapter up into two, but if I did that one would have been rather boring, so I kept them together. So...what else is Menma hiding from her friends? And just what was she doing in the Land of Water? Feel free to speculate.**

**Deltahalo: Understandable. Most I've read didn't have something like that, but then again I don't really read anything off this site anymore.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 25**

A young girl lay beaten in front of a group of shinobi. She had mint green hair, amber eyes, and tan skin as if she never missed a day of sun. Her outfit consisted of a slightly torn, light grey hooded jacket and matching pants. She struggled to get up, but one of her attackers grabbed her by the collar and threw her up against a tree. "Where is she?!"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about…" At the end of her sentence, she spit in his face, earning a punch.

"Don't play dumb with me! We know that you were with her that day...that day where everything went wrong!"

The girl scowled. "Even if I knew where she was, I wouldn't tell you bastards! I would never give up my friends!"

"You stubborn little...I guess we have no choice but to kill you. At least in this way, we can still avenge all the innocent lives you destroyed!"

"Go ahead, kill me! You won't get _anything_ fr-" Her eyes darted to the left upon feeling what she came looking for. 'So I did feel the Nanabi's chakra!' "Heh...heheh…"

"What? What's so funny?"

"You really don't feel that? Hahahaha! Say your prayers, since this will your last day walking on this earth!" The man became confused...until one of his men screamed out in pain. The leader dropped the girl, turned around, and saw a terrible sight.

A shaking hand covered in red chakra had a woman's still beating heart in it's grasp as it stuck out of her chest.

"You will all pay, you hear me?! NO ONE HURTS MY FRIENDS! I WILL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU, AND I WILL ENJOY YOUR SCREAMS AS I TEAR YOU APART!" Menma crushed the organ in her hand, and removed her arm, letting the now lifeless kunoichi fall to the forest floor.

"It's...it's you! The one responsible for all of our problems!"

"That's not true and you know it! Your system destroyed our and so many others lives!"

"Because people like you exist! You twisted our leaders mind, made him agree to things that never should have even been considered, and you broke your promises!"

"ENOUGH! Come at me if you dare!" She made a few hand seals, causing the chakra shroud to fluctuate a bit. "Wind Release: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH!" Using Chomei's power, she aimed the jutsu at the other subordinates, and all hell broke loose as the powerful technique tore the ground asunder. They were blown away, leaving only the leader and one other in the immediate picture. Summoning Kubikiribocho, she dashed forth, her enemies barely able to block the attack together. "Fools! You can't stop me! I will never stop my advance, I will never relent! You have no future in which you survive to see the end of this day!" Bringing it back, she used both hands this time, making mincemeat of their defence and embedding the giant sword deep in the subordinates shoulder. Kicking the doomed man off her blade, the ones that were sent flying earlier came back.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" A large stream of water shot towards her back, but she turned, arm facing the jutsu, and uttered the one thing they didn't want to hear.

"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" As the technique touched Menma's hand, the energy now had something to travel through. The poor man didn't have the time needed to end his own jutsu, spasming and losing control of his body. Using this window, she ran toward him and bisected him, ending his pain. "Who's next?" The last rage filled three charged at her with no plan, just praying they could get a good hit in.

How foolish of them.

When they got in striking range, she used a kawarimi with a log and threw the sword into one of them, carrying them to a tree and impaling itself to it, the shinobi doing his best to remove the blade from his stomach, but Menma appeared in front of him and crushed his skull against the bark, taking his life. Using the wood as a springboard, she jumped after the closest one. Striking them in the cheek first to daze them, her hands became blurs, hitting multiple places on their torso before backing up, charge chakra into her leg, and gave the man a knee strike that, if it didn't kill him in a few minutes, it would at least take him out of the fight. This left the supposed 'leader' all alone against her.

"You monster! They had families, hopes, and dreams! Yet you murdered them without even thinking!"

"I _do_ think, and I think they needed to die! They hunted down _my friend_ when she all she wanted to do is move on with her life! You beat her, all an attempt to find _me_, most likely! I won't let justice go un-given!"

"Even if we all die, more will rise, and one of them will take you down!"

"Let them come! I will take all challengers, and I will force them to eat their own tongue! NOW DIE!" Her tails slimmed down, becoming stingers, and shot forward, going clean through the final members lungs and heart. He gave one last gasp before going limp against the spectral appendages. Her enemies dead, she let the shroud disappear and ran to the other girls side.

"Hey...Nameless."

"It's Menma now, but close enough. Are you alright, Fu?"

"Yeah, just a little bruised from the beating I took. If only it was one, then I'm sure I could have won! They weren't _that_ well trained…"

Menma smiled. "Even after all this time, you're still the same Fu I remember, always thinking that she can take on anything."

"And _you_ have changed quite a bit, at least in looks."

"I guess not all things stay the same. Sorry to cut our reunion short, but my genin team could be here any moment, and we need to make up a story."

"Wait, _you_ lead a genin team?!"

"What? No! I'm _in_ one!"

"Oh...but why do we have to lie to them? Wouldn't it be for the best if we told them the truth?"

"No. If we told them what we did, we could be thrown in prison, or worse, put to death. I would be fine with only me suffering those fates, but like it or not, we're in this together. You'll be thrown in with me, and I won't let that happen!"

"Then...what do we tell them? They're going to take one look at those corpses and know they're from Takigakure."

"I have been thinking about that since I got to Konoha, and I think I have the ultimate solution. We don't tell them _everything_." She leaned in and they begun whispering, just in case the others got there soon.

**-_a little bit later_-**

"What...happened here?" said Kakashi as he, Mito, and Sasuke came upon the grisly scene.

"They were attacking my friend, so I killed them." simply said Menma.

"Is...is that the one you've been looking for?" Mito was barely able to speak. Seeing the condition that her teammate left her opposition made her sick to her stomach.

"Yes. Everyone, meet Fu. Fu, this is my squad. The cyclops that's hiding his other eye is my leader, Kakashi Hatake. That boy with a tanto is Sasuke Uchiha, and the girl is Mito Namikaze, daughter of the Hokage."

"Hello! It's nice to meet you all!" said the girl in a cheery tone, to the other threes shock.

"How aren't you affected by all the death around you?" asked the jonin.

"Oh, I hated these guys, so their dead bodies are fine with me. Where we come from and what we went through, it's only natural that-" The blind one struck her over the head, making Fu cover the place she hit. "Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"Because you don't have to say that. We're going to have to tell them when we get back anyway."

"Right...still didn't mean that you had to hit me."

"I also had some pent up aggression from when you decided to not come with me. If you had, you wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place!"

"Ugh...you're right...again."

"When am I ever wrong?"

"Well, there was that one time…"

"We agreed to disagree on that one, if that _is_ what I think you're thinking. Not my fault my preferences are different."

"Then...I got nothing."

"Exactly."

Kakashi decided to look at the mutilated bodies for any identifying insignia, and he found it strapped to their heads. 'Taki?!' "What's a band of Takigakure shinobi doing attacking a young girl?"

"We will explain at Konoha, when we give a debrief on the status of the mission, and not a day sooner. I will not tell our story more than once." Menma left her orange eyed friends side and went over to the body of the man stuck to the tree. Grabbing the hilt, she tried to pull it out, but it stayed put. 'Huh? Why isn't this working?' Using both hands, she tried, and failed, again. "...give me my damn sword!" Bringing out a tail's worth of power, she tugged at it, and in her irritation wasn't prepared for it to come out as easily as it did, ending up on her back, blade in hand. "Finally…"

"How hard did you throw it?!" asked the only one not a ninja.

"I used three tails, how hard do you _think_ I threw it?!" she rebutted.

"That's true…I kind of forgot that you had the cloak on when you got here."

"Wait, you know she's a jinchuuriki?" asked the blonde, getting a nod.

"Of course! I was the previous one, after all!"

Her blue orbs widened. "Then you should be dead! From what my mom and dad say, only Uzumaki can survive the extraction process, and they have to be in their prime to do so!"

"Like I said, Mito, we'll explain later. I...I know that I've been hiding quite a bit, but just wait until then, alright?" said a now standing Menma, with Kubikiribocho stored safely in it's seal.

"Then we should get going. I want to know what you two did to get one of our allies to start actively hunting you down." said Kakashi, with an icy edge in his words.

"Okay." Fu seemingly didn't hear the new tone, and turned to the Nanabi jinchuuriki. "You're going to carry me, right?"

"Yes, but I will _not_ carry you like that one day."

"Come on, it made me feel like a princess!"

"No. I won't do it. Either get on my back or ask sensei to carry you."

"Aww...fine. Killjoy..." She climbed onto her friends back, and the now five-man group took off for the village hidden in the leaves.

* * *

"The C turned A Rank mission of escorting Tazuna back to the Land of Waves was a success, Lord Hokage." reported the silver haired man.

Minato sighed. "I figured it was going to get more dangerous when you sent that bird saying you captured one of the Demon Brothers...but who's the girl? I don't think I've seen her before."

"I'll let her and Menma explain in a bit, but I should continue with the report. It turns out the business magnate Gato was responsible for the Land of Waves problems, taking over by buying all of their shipping lanes and exploiting them. He was also the one behind sending shinobi after Tazuna, and he even got Zabuza Momochi to try to kill him. Both were killed, thanks to our secretive teammate."

"...what?"

"During my fight with Zabuza, I made a mistake, allowing him to trap me in a jutsu. Menma revealed what she was, a jinchuuriki, and freed me. We killed him together, and she took his blade. Later, she found where Gato was hiding, took all his money to give to the country, and blew his base up. Afterwards, Tazuna finished building a bridge to the Land of Fire so that their country didn't have to rely on those shipping lanes. Expect a message asking about an alliance in a few months or so."

"Well, it's good to hear that so many people could be helped, but Menma's a jinchuuriki? Which one does she have?"

"The Nanabi...I don't think I need to tell you _why_ that's important."

His eyes widened. "Taki?! They're from Taki?!"

"I'm sure, since only they had the Nanabi. And you won't believe what happened on our way back. Fu, the new face, was attacked by shinobi from our ally, and Menma killed them with _extreme_ prejudice. This paints a certain picture: they did something to anger them."

Minato turned to the two girls. "Explain. Now."

The abysmal haired one nodded. "I will. You're right, we are from Takigakure, but we have no affiliation with them, not after we escaped."

"Escaped?"

"Yes. It's what you do when you find your standard of living to be unbearable. Let me tell you of our lives there. Fu is an orphan that was forced to become Chomei's jinchuuriki. Thanks to that, she was attacked by the very people she was hoping to one day protect nearly daily, becoming an outcast in the process. And I...I was just a girl that wandered too close to the village, being thrown in so that I never revealed where it was located despite having no idea where on the geographical map I was. I put myself in the darkest corner I could find, and one day I met Fu. At that time, I had lost the will to live, but she put that back in me when she showed that even after being scorned by the villagers and having no one to turn to, she would continue fighting, if just to wave it in their faces. It was then I realized...thinking that I should be dead wasn't going to fix my life, so I clutched to her like a life-line so I didn't lose my will again. We bonded over our terrible lives, and became sisters in all but blood."

The Hokage had a thought as he heard the tale. 'Would...would Mito and Anza had lives like theirs if Kushina and I died? Tormented by the very people that should watch out for them? I...I would hope not...but I guess anything's possible.' He regained focus. "Wait...you said that _she_ was the jinchuuriki, and yet _you _are one now. Something isn't adding up."

"I was getting there. You see, when I entered the picture, she had just become a jinchuuriki no less than a week ago. Using that information, we came up with a plan to escape: I would take her job of carrying Chomei. We had to convince Shibuki to do the transfer, but we did, and I was able to use his power to get me and her out of there. It was a risk, since we didn't know if she would survive, but here she is, alive and well. I theorize that since her body hadn't yet become reliant on his chakra, she was able to endure."

"I see...but how could you use Chomei's power as soon as you say you did?"

"That's simple. It turns out that some things I said while he was in Fu struck a chord with him, and he too wanted to get away from that terrible place. After being placed inside me, he contacted me for the first time, and we made a deal: he would give me enough chakra to escape, and I would remove all limitations on him afterward. Shibuki couldn't even react in time to me grabbing Fu and running with three tails worth of power."

The Yellow Flash put a hand to his forehead, letting all the information sink in. "By all rights I should send you both back…"

His daughter let out a gasp. "But you won't...right? Not after she just told you what they both went through?"

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "You can't do that, Lord Hokage. If you cast them out, you're no better than what they escaped from in the first place."

"I know...and I won't, not if there lives were really that bad. Menma, you can continue being on Team Kakashi, and you, Fu, can do whatever you want."

"No she can't." butted in Menma, drawing his and her tan friend's attention.

"What?" she asked, getting the black wearing girl to turn her head to face her.

"You heard me. You are not going to do whatever you want. You are going to be trained, since I won't always be there to save you. I may want to protect everyone I care about, but I can't. I'm only one person."

"But I thought you said it was okay that I could be a normal citizen!"

"I never said that! What _I_ remember is you saying you want nothing to do with being a kunoichi, and I having to leave you, since I needed to train for my goals! Come on, Fu, open your eyes! You're being hunted, and you need to be able to defend yourself!"

Fu hung her head, knowing she lost the argument. "_(Sigh)_ You're right...I'm useless the way I am now, and I don't want to be a bother to you…"

"Now you're taking it too far. You will never be a bother to me, Fu. We're sisters, remember?"

This brightened her up instantly. "Yeah! So...who's going to train me? Is it going to be your teacher?"

"Uh...that's a good question. I haven't thought that far ahead…"

"Go ahead." said Minato.

"...huh?"

"I said 'go ahead'. Even if someone isn't a jonin, I can allow individuals to train others if I think they are qualified. I did the same for my late daughter when I let Shisui Uchiha, a chunin at the time, to teach her how to be a ninja. He had an Anbu commander helping him, but that's beside the point."

"T-thank you. That's...kind of you."

"No problem, just make sure to wait until your teams activities are done for the day before doing anything. Now...where will she live?"

"That's easy! I'll live wherever Menma lives!" said the subject of the conversation, causing Menma to rub the back of her head.

"Um...about that...I don't have a home, Fu."

"What?!"

Mito nodded. "She's right. Menma's been living on the streets for months now, not taking our offer of staying at my place or getting an apartment now that she has money."

"Why?"

"Because I have no need of a home, Fu. I've been living off the wild for so long I don't care if I have a roof over my head at all times anymore. Please, Hokage, Mito, take her in until she can earn enough money to live on her own."

The blonde man gave a smile. "I can do that. The extra bedroom can now actually be useful. Team Kakashi, Fu, you are dismissed. Except for you, Kakashi. I need to talk to you for a minute." The genin and one citizen bowed, and left them.

"Okay, so what is it, sensei?"

"The lone Demon Brother you detained? He's probably getting a new home soon." He fished through his desk, getting a scroll and throwing it to him. "Read this."

"Um...okay…" He opened it, and his visible eye widened at it's contents. "Are you sure this is genuine? Because if this is...this could mean a giant step towards peace."

"Yes, it is. It was sent to me a few days after you sent your own bird, and it has Kirigakure's special seal, only known to those in it's highest ranks. Kirigakure has a new Mizukage, and she wants to come to Konoha to talk about an alliance."


	26. Chapter 26

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 26**

"So...how long have you two known Menma?" asked Fu to her new housemates. They were the only ones in the home, Kushina deciding to go to the store, and Minato was at work.

Mito's eyebrows scrunched up. "Uh...since the first day of the Academy, which was eight months ago. We've been a team for only one."

"Wow...you've known her longer than I have."

This surprised Sasuke. "What?"

"Yeah. Before we separated, we only knew each other for...maybe two, but I guess her being in such a bad place made us closer than you guys."

"She mentioned that she contemplated suicide...is...is that true?" asked the jinchuuriki.

The green haired girl started looking down at the ground. "Sadly. When I first found her, she kept mumbling about why her parents were so cruel, if they even loved her in the first place, and if she was born just so that she could be a toy for others. And her eyes...her eyes were so blank. No light seemed to come from them. It looked like she gave up, and I wouldn't have that. She had a shard of glass in her good hand, and I knocked it out. The rest is history!"

"She had eyes when you met her?" Fu nodded. "What color did they have?"

"An odd question...but they...they...uh oh…I don't remember!"

"You don't remember your best friends eye color?!"

"What does it matter if she can't, Mito?" said a familiar voice coming from the doorway. They turned, and there stood the person they were talking about, leaning back on the wall with her arms crossed. "My eyes are ruined anyway, so even if she did remember their color, I couldn't show them to you. By the way, this place should have some defences. I was able to get in here rather easily, and that could prove terrible if an enemy decided to strike at home."

"You must have trained a lot from the time we last saw each other. I never even heard the door open!" exclaimed the former holder of Chomei.

"Because it didn't. I used a shunshin to appear here. It's...kind of my thing, I guess. So are you three gossiping about me?"

"...would you believe us if we said no?"

"No. Maybe if I heard something about what jutsu's I have, but eye color? Dead giveaway."

Fu shrugged. "I had to try. Well, since you're here...can you remind me what they were?"

"Might as well, you'll just keep asking later if I don't. Yellow."

"That...doesn't seem right. Are you sure?"

"They _were_ my eyes, so don't you think I'd know?"

"Okay, okay! I'll take your word for it...but how did you lose them in the first place? You always did your best taking care of them."

"Strangely, a sneak attack. I should have sensed him coming, especially since I knew his chakra from a previous encounter, but I was too slow to react."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that...it must have been hard adjusting to using your other senses."

"Why? You didn't cut them, and it wasn't that bad. Anyway, are you ready to go?"

"Wait, we're starting training today?! But I've only been in Konoha for a day!"

"Yes. The sooner we start, the better. Mito, Sasuke, would you like to come with? I can try to show you both a few things."

The Uchiha smirked, but shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. After the mission we had, I just want to relax for the time being."

"I will, if you teach me how to use fuzzball's chakra."

"Sorry, but that's beyond me. I can't 'teach' you how to use Kurama's chakra and powers, you have to learn that by yourself. I wish I could be a bigger help, I really do, but each biju is different. Chomei, for example, grants me the ability to fly and use bugs as a sort of tracking system."

"**She's right. The only thing we biju have in common is our powerful chakra, which you haven't even used due to me thinking your not ready for it, but the Wave mission has made me start reconsidering..." **said the fox.

"Then...I guess I'll just stay here with Sasuke. I too want to rest a bit before going back to doing missions."

"Okay, but please, think about it, okay? I don't want you getting hurt just because you can't use his chakra." Menma gave a small smile before starting to walk away. "Since it will only be Fu and I...Fu, this will be your first exercise. Meet me in Training Ground Three." She disappeared with the sparse information.

'Strange...she seemed nicer when she spoke to Mito. Hm...' "Training Ground Three, got it...where's Training Ground Three?"

"It seems like she's copying Kakashi-sensei's 'plan', so I don't think she want's us to tell you outright, but go to the main gate and ask one of the guards there to give you directions." said Sasuke.

"But...won't they just...I don't know, turn me away?"

"They shouldn't. Just say you're being trained by someone, and they want you to meet them in that training ground, it'll probably get you the results you want."

The mint haired girl grinned. "Thanks! Well, I'll see you two later!" Fu got up from her seat and started running for the front door.

"Wow...I think I realize what Menma ment at the orphanage just before we left. Haruka and Fu have the same hyperactive tendencies. I wonder who was the other one she mentioned, though…" commented Mito.

"I don't know, but I don't think we ever will. Menma doesn't really explain anything involving her past."

"Yeah, and I don't like it. We're her friends, yet it feels like we don't really know her. I want her to trust us like she trusts Fu!"

"_(Sigh)_ It does seem like Fu knows her better than we do, huh?" The raven-haired boy leaned back into the couch, hand covering half of his face. "She's too much of a headache at the moment, and weren't we trying to relax? Let's watch a movie, or something." His blonde teammate nodded, and turned on the TV.

**-_later, Training Ground Three_-**

Fu watched as a leaf fell from her forehead for the umpteenth time in a row, and she was not pleased. "Grr...how is this the 'break period'?! It's even more irritating than the physical conditioning!"

"Calm down and concentrate. The more you let your emotions run wild, the harder it is for the leaf to stick." said Menma as she leaned against a tree.

"Can I just take a real break? I haven't trained a day in my life, and I can't do things like you can yet."

The jinchuuriki put a hand over her chin. "You make a good point...sure. I'll be doing my own training until I say we should start again." Her three tailed mode roared to life, but a fourth tail soon grew out of the visible mass of chakra. Menma began doing her normal routine of pushups, situps, and the like as her 'student' watched on. 'Have to get used to four tails, otherwise five and up will eventually kill me...'

After a few minutes of doing nothing, Fu decided the silence was unbearable. "So...how has your life in Konoha been?"

"About as good as it can be. I have my pills, have a few friends, a little sister, and every day I'm one step closer to completing my goals."

"A little sister? But I thought you didn't have a flesh and blood sibling?"

"Oh, she's not. She's an Uchiha I met at the orphanage that most are at now. Her name is Haruka, and I think you'd like her. She's like you, after all."

"I'd love to meet her! Maybe after we're done here we can go visit."

"I already was, but I know that she'd love to have another friend."

The silence came back. "Uh...ooh! I got it! Do you have your sights set on someone?"

"Bad choice of words, and what do you mean? You're going to need to be specific."

"Sorry...and what I mean is...well, your what, twelve now?"

"Yes, what's your point?"

"Then you should start gaining feelings towards people!"

"So what you're asking me...is if I have a crush on someone?" Fu nodded. "No."

"It's the Hokage's daughter, isn't it?"

Menma stopped what she was doing and sat on the ground, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And what makes you say that _right_ after I said no?"

"Well, you seem nicer to her than everyone else, even me! There's also the fact that I'm pretty sure you showed an interest in girls..."

"That means _nothing_. Look, Fu, you can look for someone as much as you want, but _I_ won't. I have a career to focus on and people to kill. Even if I did somehow get a partner, why would they stay with me? I am driven solely by vengeance and wrath, no one wants someone like that. I...will be alone for a long time." As she spoke, her tone became bitter, as if she's been through this train of thought before and hated it.

"Then don't focus on revenge. There's more to life than-"

"You don't understand. I will _never_ be truly happy until I absolutely _butcher_ those four…" The cloak dissipated, and she stood up. "The fact that you can speak without any tiredness in your voice says volumes. You seem like you've rested enough, so we're going to continue. I _will_ get you to at least mid-genin level by the end of next month." The former jinchuuriki gulped, knowing that she was probably going to be very sore in the morning.

**-_dusk, Konoha_-**

'Konoha sure is peaceful at night, right fuzzball?' asked the young Namikaze as she wandered her village alone. She found that just walking around was pretty relaxing, and it helped her think whenever she needed to.

"**Yes...it's strange. By looking at the people, you wouldn't think that I attacked this place so long ago."**

'That's a good thing. It means we moved on from the past and are going towards a better tomorrow.'

"**I hope so, I tire of the constant war you humans wage. Not just because it's nearly endless, but because of my father's wishes."**

'Your father's wishes? Wait...you have a father?'

"**Maybe 'father' isn't the best word, but he did bring me to life, and I did love him like one. You may know him, he was known as the Sage of the Six Paths, and all he wanted was peace. He spread his belief, ninshu, across the world, and for a time there were no more wars. That was until he died, then because of his sons, my 'brothers', actions, they indirectly reintroduced war with a new weapon: ninjutsu, the perversion of ninshu."**

'Um...nope. Never heard of him, but he sounded awesome. One man singlehandedly brought peace to the world...it sounds like 'The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. Don't worry, we can bring that about again. Just give it some time.'

Kurama didn't respond to her optimistic claim. '**I don't know, kit. Based on the stories father told me and seeing this world with my own eyes...I just don't know if an everlasting peace is possible. War...**_**to **_**war seems to be the drive of all living things**.'

Before Mito could ask why the fox was suddenly silent, the sound of singing started going through the air...and she knew it's voice, despite it sounding a bit...strange. "_I'm walking beside myself, just I'm like someone else…"_

'Is that who I think it is?'

"**I think so. It's coming from around the corner."** She followed it, and turning, she saw a seemingly _very_ wasted Menma wobbling down a street, bottle of sake in one hand, and a strange blue jewel in the other.

"_...lost in the human race..._how'd it go again? _People from scary dreams_? Bah, can't recall it..." Her speech was slurred to the point that Mito could just barely understand her.

She tapped on her shoulder, causing the slightly flushed girl to turn around. "Menma? Are you okay? And why do you reek of alcohol?"

"Eh? Who are...oh, hello, Mito! Care to join me in a _(hic)_ drink? I don't think it's gone yet…" She took a swig. "Nope...still there."

"**Uh...kit, I'm pretty sure she's drunk. I thought Chomei was supposed to keep this from happening?"**

"**I tried! I told her 'only one drink', and she agreed until someone asked if she could hold her liquor, being so young-"**

"It was some busty _bitch_…"

"**Yeah, and Menma here said she could probably drink her under the table, and it became a drinking contest, and we know she hates losing! I said 'screw it!', and stopped trying to filter the alcohol."**

"And I think a talking pig tried to stop us...stupid pig…"

"I think you ran into Tsunade...that's not good, that means you drank _way_ too much."

"Dun' care...was told once that it helped deal with _things_...and they were _(hic)_ right! Can't remember a thing! ...I think…"

"Well, you can't stay out here all night." Mito got closer and got her friend to wrap an arm around her neck so she could keep her standing. "Come on, my house is nearby, so it looks like you're staying over."

"You're so nice to me, even though I hide things...I could kiss you because of how sweet you are! ...would that be weird? Nah." The blonde had no response as the drunk planted one on her cheek, getting her face to turn a shade of red that greatly amused her tenant.

"S-s-so why did decide to drink?"

"_(hic)_ Something...came up at the forest. Can't remember what, but that's the idea! I don't wanna think about it, and being drunk has been said to be the cure of bad memories, so I did it! Very tired though…" Almost immediately afterward Menma became limp, dropping the things in her hands, and with only one set of legs working it became hard to walk, so Mito set her up against a wall.

"What a perfect time to fall asleep…" She made the clone seal and created two Kage Bunshins to carry the other jinchuuriki. Walking to where Menma lost hold of her things, she picked up the jewel, getting a better look at it. It was easily the size of her palm, was actually a blue-green color similar to the ocean, and it had what looked like a miniature, frozen whirlpool inside it. "What a strange object...looks cool, though. Do you guys have her?"

"Yes, boss. We can get her back to the house rather easily."

"Good, then we should hurry. Mom and dad said that I shouldn't stay out too long."

"Aye!" The clones set off, with their creator close behind, getting home in a few minutes. She opened the door and her doppelgangers took the passed out girl upstairs while her mother watched the spectacle.

"I feel like I asked you this before...but did you just bring an unconscious Menma here?"

"Yeah. I found her drunk in the middle of a street singing as if she had nothing left to lose, so I decided it would probably be best if she stayed in a house for the night. Turns out she doesn't like losing any contest, not even a drinking one. She fell asleep on the way here, too."

"But we don't have any rooms left for her to stay in."

"Yes we do. Mine. There's an extra bed there."

"You mean Anza's?"

"Yep. I'm sure she wouldn't mind that someone else is using it for a little bit."

Kushina sighed. "Well, it's your room, so I guess you can decide who can stay in there...but don't tell me you tried whatever she was drinking."

"Huh? Why would you say that?"

"Because your face is a little red."

"O-oh. W-well...hey, check out what Menma had!" She gave the Uzumaki the jewel.

Upon seeing it, Kushina's eyes widened. "Oh wow...it's been awhile since I've seen another of these things. Back when I was in Uzushiogakure, the last time I was in it's Kage Tower, one of these were on the leader's desk. They were said to represent the Uzumaki's complete control over the whirlpools surrounding the village. Rubbish, but a cool marketing idea. This...this brings back some memories."

"So Uzu sold these things?"

"I think so, but I can't remember that much about these...but I wonder, how did Menma get one? Most of them should have been destroyed the same day Uzu was."

"Do you think she could have visited your old home?"

"Maybe. There's no protective barrier around it anymore, so theoretically anyone can explore the ruins if they get past the whirlpools, but she probably found it in a store somewhere." She handed it back to her daughter. "Make sure she gets it back when she wakes up."

"I will. I think I'm going to bed, so good night."

"Night." The blue eyed girl walked upstairs, brushed her teeth, and entered her now not so lonely room. She found Anza's katana laying on the floor, probably tossed off it's perch so that there was room for the other girl. Mito picked it up and put it up against a wall, out of the way of peoples feet. After that was done, she sat down on her bed, looking at her roommate for the night.

'Three years...it's been three years since anyone has used that bed. I can't believe you've been gone for so long, Anza...I hope you're proud of what I've done so far.'

"Don't...don't t-t-touch…" She heard a whimper come from the other side, and saw her friend shake. "P-please…leave...alone…"

"**Her emotions are all over the place. I feel so much sadness, yet I feel astronomical amounts of hatred. For what, I have no idea, but whatever it is...she's dreaming about it right now."**

'Do you think this is why she takes those really strong sleep aids? So she doesn't dream?'

"**It's a possibility. I guess we should ask her about this in the morning...**_**if**_ **she let's us, that is."** Mito agreed with the fox, and soon the words were drowned out by her descent into deep sleep.

**-_morning_-**

As light started to stream in from the window, Menma began to stir from her dreams. 'Guh...eug...ow, my head...where the hell am I?' She closed her hand around the smooth material she was on. 'A...a bed? What happened last night? I don't remember anything past...a bunch of bottles...that can't be good...'

"**You got drunk, idiot!"** mentally yelled the giant beetle, causing his jinchuuriki to grab her head with both hands.

'Be a little more quiet, please, but I figured as much. Why didn't you do your thing?'

"**I did! But you decided to be stupid and take the challenge, so I stopped!"**

'Then it's a good thing that's going to be the last time I decide to use sake as a means to repress memories and thoughts. I'll just stick to drugs, they don't give me massive headaches when I wake up.'

"**Good! Now, I bet you're wondering where you're at?"**

'Just a bit, but I _can_ sense a chakra signature directly to my right...wait...is that Kurama?'

"**Yep! You should thank Mito for dragging your ass here while you were singing and kicking random men in the shins for shit and giggles. Seriously, you do some strange things when you're drunk!"**

'I'll...keep that in mind. Please, tell me anything else I did.'

"**Uh...nope, that's about it."** he lied.

'If you say so.' She sat up and swung her legs out over the dark red-covered mattress' edge. "Hey."

Mito had woken up a bit earlier than Menma and was picking out an orange outfit to wear for after she took her shower. "Oh, morning! I didn't think you'd wake up so soon."

"Truthfully, I'm still tired, but I'll wait until later to take the pills. I'm _never_ drinking again."

"That's good to hear. You were acting very strange while under the influence."

"I guess so, Chomei said I started singing and kicking people, but I can't recall anything past my time in the bar."

"Anything? So you don't remember…"

"...remember what?"

"N-nothing!" She finished finding her clothes and sat across from Menma. "Listen...I want to ask you something."

"Shoot. Probably won't give you a good answer, but by now you're probably used to that."

"Okay...do you suffer from nightmares?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Last night while you were sleeping, you mumbled words, you shook like you were scared, and fuzzball could feel all your negative emotions, which were mainly sadness and anger. So...do you?"

"...yes."

"Do you know what they're on? Maybe we can get someone to help you."

"I...I do know what are in those nightmares, but I-"

"**You need to tell **_**someone**_**. You tried to keep those memories down with anything you could find, but it isn't working. You can't just keep them suppressed and locked inside, it'll slowly destroy you if you do that. I know it's hard to talk about, but **_**please**_**, tell someone, share your burden! That's what friends are for, to help lift the weights off your back!"**

She let out a deep sigh. '...I...I guess I will.' "Mito...do you want to know?"

"Yes! I'm here for you, we all are. Don't forget that."

"I won't...okay, give me one second." She summoned a piece of paper and attached it to the floor, seals crawling out of it and covering the entire room. "Now...now no one can listen in or barge into my tale. What I'm about to tell you isn't even known by Fu, and please don't tell anyone else unless I say you can."

"Okay. You can trust me."

Menma scooted on the bed, having her back against the wall and bringing her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "You know how I call my father a bastard, right?" Mito nodded. "Well, that's where it begins. I was once a happy child, like you. I was raised in a good place, my parents showered me with love, and I had a handful of friends. I even started being taught on how to be a kunoichi from mother and father, who were ninja. One day I walked into the woods near our house, one of my normal things...and then I was attacked and taken by a horde of bandits. I tried to fight them off, but they...they grabbed my right arm and broke it because I was being a fuss. Without it, I couldn't even make a hand seal in a desperate attempt to do a jutsu. I was taken to their camp, the place that would be my own personal hell for maybe a month."

"**It's rising again, kit. Anger."** noted the Kyuubi.

"If you thought I was just going to be a prisoner for some kind of ransom, you are wrong. My luck was far worse. They...they chained me to a post...and….and..." Her voice choked up, and she looked like she wanted to cry, but couldn't. "They molested me, raped me, nearly daily. _Me_, a girl not even in her teens. Whenever I tried to fight back, they would twist my broken arm, so eventually I stopped fighting and let them do whatever they wanted to me. Every day, every night I prayed that my parents, that someone would save me...but no one did. I found out the hard way that...that my beloved parents, the people that said that they would always be there for me, that I was special to them, never truly cared for me. They should have been able to find me, but they didn't, not even with their resources. That told me all I needed to know...and I couldn't even cry at night, for fear of them taking my few hours of respite. Eventually, my arm healed to the point that I could flex my hand...more than enough. I pretended to cry one night, getting the guard to come in to 'punish' me, and I _choked him out with the chain around my neck_." The tone of sadness melted away, being replaced with sadistic hatred as a twisted smile grew onto her face. "I took his key, freed myself, and I _killed them one by one as they slept soundly in their tents_. At the end of it all...I stood atop a hill of corpses, and I was so happy." Her face resetted back into a neutral look. "Then I had nothing. No map, no idea where I was, and no one I could have guide me. I wandered, and then I ran into Takigakure shinobi. You know the rest."

To say Mito was stunned would be an understatement. 'What...what a horrible story. She's been through so much...no wonder she felt like she was worthless and thought about ending it all. To have that happen to you, to hope that someone would come save you, only for it not to happen...' She set the clothes down on her bed, got up, and started hugging Menma.

"Wha-what are you doing?"

"Hugging you, of course. You need one, after all of that."

"...thank you." She awkwardly returned it, but it was enough for the Namikaze, who released her hold after a few minutes.

"No, I should be thanking you. That must have been hard to talk about, but you trusted me enough that you could share it."

"Chomei said it would help make me feel better...but it didn't. It only made me remember the feelings of helplessness and the insatiable rage."

"Well, how about you stay for breakfast? Hang out with your friends while we're still on break! That'll surely help raise your spirits!"

"_(Sigh)_ Sure, but I'm not staying long. I still have to train Fu, and I need to continue working on how many tails I can safely use." Menma got up off her temporary bed and ripped the sealing paper off the ground.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Going through the drawer in the middle of the room, she procured the blue sphere. "Here. You had it with you last night."

"An orb? Oh, wait, I remember that thing now...I'd completely forgotten about it. How did I get it out of the right seal while I was drunk?" She took it and stuffed it back into the seal.

"How'd you get it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Found it in an abandoned building and decided it would make a nice little heirloom I could give later on in life. You should go probably take your shower, before someone else decides they need it more."

Mito's eyes narrowed. "Not today, Sasuke! You're not using up all the hot water _this_ time!" She meant it as a joke, and it worked. It got her friend to smile before she ran for the bathroom, clothes in hand.

'I guess we should go downstairs and wait. I'm sure Fu will be happy that she won't be getting a day to rest after the beating she took yesterday.'

Needless to say, she wasn't.

* * *

**A.N.: Yes, I know making Menma a rape victim is rather cliché, but I didn't know what else to do. I wanted to give her a reason to hate her parents that she oh-so often mentions while also giving her a similar past to Mito...like what Kishimoto used with Gaara and Naruto. I feel like I missed the mark on this one, so I'm sorry if that's true. For those of you that want to know, the lyrics that Menma was singing belonged to a song called 'Let it Fall'.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 27**

"Come on, we need to keep running!" shouted Mito over her shoulder as she ran in the woods of Training Ground Three. Sasuke was following close behind.

"We need to make a stand at some point! You know we can't outrun her forever!"

"We can try!"

"No you can't. Trying to hide from a sensor by running is like trying to hide a bright flame amidst a sea of black. It won't work." said their pursuer from one of the trees. They jumped down, and revealed themselves to be their teammate. "You also can't run faster than me. I can use five tails now, remember?"

"Well, I can use one!" said the other jinchuuriki. Thanks to what Menma said, and Kurama actually deciding to give some of his chakra to her, she started learning how to use it. It was a rather painful process, but she managed to get to one tail thanks to the fox.

The dark haired girl shook her head. "Not enough, and this is suppose to be a two vs. one spar, not a demonstration on how to run away. Face me!"

The Uchiha looked at his blonde friend. "You go high I go low?" he whispered.

"Might as well, I don't think we can beat her otherwise." She charged in with a flurry of punches, but like every other time, they were blocked.

"Good, good, you're getting stronger and faster. I'm using a small bit of Chomei's power to easily deflect these." Sasuke jumped into the mix, Sharingan blazing, and her defense was pushed to it's limits. "Hng...you two are a good team. Makes me wonder how one opponent would fare against the three of us."

The boy with special eyes dodged a punch thrown by her. "Probably get defeated. I mean, this is why we've been put in a team, right? Use our combined skills to take down more experienced enemies?"

"Yeah. I don't think anyone can stand against _Menma_, let alone all of us." chimed in Mito.

"Focus, both of you...but thanks for the compliment, I guess." She brought up more of the Nanabi's chakra, making her own attacks quicker. Now the other two were on the defensive, barely blocking and dodging until their sensei appeared from the brush.

"Enough!" he shouted, getting the three genin to stop fighting and move in front of him. "That was excellent, all of you. Mito, Sasuke, you were able to effectively impede Menma from attacking you, an improvement since we last had a mock battle like this. Menma, you held your own against two opponents rather close to your skill level _and_ while they had good teamwork, probably honed by spars from long before you even stepped into the picture. You may have used the Nanabi's chakra, but so was Mito with the Kyuubi's."

'I was?'

**"Yes. Now that you're using my chakra in a more active way and we're on rather good terms, I can give you small amounts of it so that you can have more 'bite' in your attacks. That, and Sasuke using his dojutsu, is why she had no choice but to call upon Chomei. I was about to give you more to combat the rise in my brother's chakra, but we were stopped."**

Kakashi, unaware about what was going on in her head, eye smiled. "I think my cute little genin team is ready."

The Namikaze raised an eyebrow. "Ready? Ready for what?"

Kakashi fished through the pockets in his flak-jacket and brought out three papers. "Yesterday, we had the annual meeting for the Chunin Exams, and I recommended you all take part. Don't worry, it's completely voluntary, so you don't have to take part if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding?! Of _course_ we're going to take part! Right guys?"

Menma nodded. "I'll take part. Maybe I can meet some strong opponents."

"And I will too. We trained for this day, we're not going to let it go to waste." agreed Sasuke.

"Then sign the applications and go to room 301 at the Academy in five days. Since we will be hosting these, there will be some genin from other villages, so don't accidentally cause an international incident, sensei would not be happy. Well, official team activities are done until after the results of the Exams, so bye!" The cyclops went up in smoke.

Mito looked over the parchment with glee apparent in her eyes. "The Chunin Exams...I wish dad would tell us these things beforehand! I can't wait!"

"I've always wondered how we stacked up against other genin in the world...I guess I'll get my answer soon." commented the lone male.

"We have five days...might as well keep training together until then. I also need to figure out how Fu will train while I'm busy with this. She will _not_ slack off now."

"I think she deserves a break, Menma. You've been working her hard for the past month, I think she's earned one."

"She gets Saturdays and Sundays off, and it's not like I treat her like a slave. Besides, it'll be good for her. I pushed my body and mind to the very limit everyday for years, and you see how well that worked out." She put the application in one of her pockets. "I'm going to take off. Haruka will be happy to know that I'm going to be in the exams...even though she probably doesn't know what they are."

"Tell the Uchiha hello for me, and that I'll be visiting soon."

"I will. Fu and I will be here from eight to one, so you know where to find me." Menma disappeared like her leader before her.

"So...wanna get Ichiraku's before we head back?" asked the blonde.

"Why not? I acquired a taste for the stuff after how many times I've had it because of you."

**-_five days later_-**

Team Kakashi stood in front of the main door, ready to go in and take the next step in their careers. "You know...I'm kind of sick of this place. You would have thought that once we became genin, we would leave this place behind, but no! Everything revolves around the Academy. Missions come from here, to talk to the Hokage we have to come here, and now we have to come here to enter the Chunin Exams!"

"I didn't think you would complain about something like this, Menma. You punch the same trees repeatedly, so why do you have a problem going to the same building over and over again?" asked Mito.

"Because I always smell the desperation that lingers in the halls. _(Sigh)_ Let's just get this over with. Take the lead, Mito." The other girl nodded, and they opened the door and found their way to room 301...which had a giant crowd trying to enter, but two men kept pushing them away.

"Ah!" said a green spandex wearing boy with eyebrows so thick you would think they would be alive and a shiny bowl cut as he was struck hard enough to fall to the ground. A girl, who wore her hair in buns, a pink sleeveless blouse, and teal pants knelt down and held him sit up.

"Hey, we just want to get through! We're suppose to be in there!" she yelled at the two genin responsible.

"Just beat it! You want to enter the Chunin Exams, yet you can't even get passed us? Don't make me laugh!" said the one with three bandages on his face.

"You know that this is a genjutsu, right?" whispered Sasuke to the blonde.

"Yes. Those two are the 'eternal gate-guards'. We should know what they look like by now, with all the times we passed by them on the way to the training ground, and they look like younger versions of them, so they must be using a henge. We should keep on walking, the real 301 is on the next floor." Her teammates nodded, and they followed her plan.

"Hey! Where do you three think you're going? The room you want is right here!" said the other disguised guard.

"You can't fool us with such a simple trick, but we'll let the others figure it out." said Menma over her shoulder. They almost made it to the stairs, but the same green wearing genin accompanied by the girl and a white eyed boy they hadn't seen walked up to them.

"Wait there for a minute. Are you Team Kakashi?"

"Yes, who's asking?"

"My name is Rock Lee, of Team Guy, and I wish to fight one of you."

"Why? One of us are probably going to meet you at some point in the exams, so why ask for a fight now?"

"Because I wish to test my flames of youth against the strongest opponents, and I've heard that you three are some of the best."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not going to fight you. You will just have to wait...but I will look forward to a match with you. You are no Zabuza, that much I can tell, but you may be a worthy enemy. Let's go guys." Team Seven continued their march, leaving a downtrodden Lee behind, and finally made it to the room they came there for.

"Hello, my genin." said Kakashi as he blocked the door to 301. "You're all here. Good, that means you all can register for the exams."

"But didn't you hand us the papers that would have allowed us to do that anyway?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, but to register, all three of you needed to be here. If one of you hadn't come, than none of you would have been able to enter. Obviously, that didn't happen, so I'm going to let you through. You three have been the best students a sensei could have, and I couldn't be prouder of you all. Good luck." He stepped out of the way, and the children entered the spacious room, filled to the brim with genin.

"Oh great, it's you three. I knew this was going to be troublesome, but we may as well just give up now." said a familiar, easy-going voice. Shikamaru and his team walked up to the new arrivals, and Mito smiled upon seeing her friends.

"Shikamaru! Ino! Choji! It's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Yeah. It's been forever since we've last seen each other." Agreed the Yamanaka.

"Oi, Menma! Ready to finally lose to me?" called a loud voice, and the heir to the Inuzuka clan showed himself, with Shino and Hinata close behind.

"Kiba. I hope you're stronger than you were the last time we spared. If you're not...well, this is going to be a short exam for you. I'm surprised, though. All of the rookies are here. This will be interesting."

"Haha, yeah. The 'Rookie Nine', and we're going to show the rest of these guys that they can't mess with us!" Akamaru yipped in agreement atop of his head.

"Hm...strange, my kikaichu are buzzing in excitement the closer I get to you. Why?" asked the Aburame to the blindfold wearing girl.

"Because we're more alike than you think, Shino." Menma released some of Chomei's chakra, momentarily letting loose a red wave of chakra before settling down.

"I see...I sense a powerful being inside you, and my bugs are screaming that it's a beetle of the highest caliber. Can you show it too me?"

"Can't really show what's deep within. Besides, if I did, this room would be flattened. We don't want that, now do we?"

"Hey, pipe down a bit!" This time it was not a familiar voice. The group of nine turned to where it came from, seeing a purple clad, grey haired man wearing round glasses making his way toward them. "Do you want to paint a giant target on your backs? I mean, you _are_ the three teams to have just gotten out of the Academy, right? It might not be wise to shout your presence to everyone."

"And you are?" asked the Uchiha.

"My apologies, my name is Kabuto Yakushi. I'm a genin, just like you."

"But you look like you're in your late teens, early twenties!"

"Heheh, well, that's because this is my seventh time trying to become a Chunin. I'm not that good, but I'm not giving up!"

"That's the spirit! You should never stop trying!" said the Namikaze.

"Thank you. Now, I haven't just been failing. I've also been getting info on as many people as I can." He pulled out a deck of orange cards with the kanji for 'shinobi' on their backs. "These are Ninja Info Cards. I have intel on nearly everyone here, even all of you. So, give me a country, date of birth, or a physical description, and I can give you what I have."

"Anyone?" asked the abysmal haired girl.

"Anyone."

"Well then, I want info on Menma!" said Kiba.

"No fun, but sure." He put them face down on the floor, shuffled them, and removed one and placed it face up. Putting his finger on it, Kabuto started spinning the card, soon revealing a fully filled out dossier. "Okay, she has completed one-hundred and two D-Ranks, and one C turned A Rank. Skills: taijutsu, ninjutsu, and shurikenjutsu are maxed out on this card, fuinjutsu is...unreadable? Uh, and hasn't shown any aptitude for genjutsu. Teammates...do I really need to say this? And down here...it says that she fought and defeated Zabuza Momochi alongside her leader, Kakashi, and now is the owner of his sword, Kubikiribocho."

"When you said she defeated this 'Zabuza', you mean the whole team helped out, right?"

"No." said the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, getting Kiba to look at her. "Me and Sasuke didn't even get a chance to fight, we were told to stay and guard the client by Menma while she helped Kakashi. We thought she was crazy, but it turns out we weren't needed. They rather easily overpowered Zabuza." The Inuzuka turned to his 'rival', mouth slightly agape.

"Told you, it probably will be a short exam for you if you face me. I'm a jinchuuriki, you'll have to pull all the stops to beat me."

"You would admit that you're a jinchuurki so easily?!" asked a shocked Kabuto.

"Yes. I have no fear of anyone here. Not many can defeat a perfect jinchuuriki, and the ones who can aren't genin."

"Uh...okay, well, since that's done, does anyone else want to take a look at their competition?" All the other genin shook their heads. "Suit yourselves." He packed up the cards and put them back where they came from.

Menma suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if someone was trying to bore a hole into the back of her head. 'Someone's staring at me...but damned if I knew from where.' The cause were two boys, one with blue hair, black-rimmed square glasses with a rather large sword on his back, but he stopped looking as she started moving her head around. The other was a redhead with the kanji for 'love' on his forehead, and he just kept eyeing her until there was a *bang* from up front, causing everyone to look in that direction, and a heavily scarred man and what looked like an entire battalion of chunin stood behind him in what _was_ an empty area.

"Alright you untested, miserable excuses of genin! I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor of the first exam, and until said otherwise, your new worst nightmare. The first test will be a written one, so come, hand in your applications, and you will be given a number and the test. That number is your seat number, you'll have to find it. When you all have your seats, I will explain things in more detail." In time, all shinobi and kunoichi gave him the papers and got the one page test. Mito found herself separated from her team and her other friends, to her disappointment. "Okay, here are the rules: no asking questions. Listen to me the first time, or not at all. Two, you start the test with ten points, and you lose one for each missed answer. Three: do not cheat. If you are caught cheating by the sentinels, you will lose two points. Get caught five times, you get a zero. A zero means failure for you..._and_ your team. Only a fool would be caught cheating, so _don't cheat_. The written portion has ten questions, but the tenth one will be verbally asked when there are only fifteen minutes left, and you will be writing for forty-five, so you will be testing for a total of sixty. You may begin!" Pencils hit paper, and the crowd of chunin hopefuls did their best to answer the questions.

'Wow...these are hard...I only understand the first four, but the rest?! Man...I kinda wish I could switch with Anza at the moment. She was always better at these kind of things than me...'

"**Don't worry, I can help you. I've been around for hundreds of years, more than likely we can get a few more than four correct with my knowledge."** said Kurama.

'Oh, right! I...forgot I had you. No way they can find out about this!' She started to write down some answers.

Across the room, Sasuke was having an even more difficult time with his. 'How are we suppose to answer these?! They're all advanced theoretical stuff that only a handful could get right! Why would they make this so hard? Do they _want_ us to...' He thought that through for a minute. '...you bastards! 'Only a fool would be caught'? This isn't a normal 'write down the answer' kind of thing, it's an information gathering exercise! Well, I guess that means I can do _this_...' He activated his Sharingan, and began copying the pencil movements of people.

And that left poor Menma, who had not even touched the writing utensil. '...I hate written tests when the questions are on them. I can't read them, and he won't read them too me, so I guess I'm just stuck here waiting for the tenth question. Fuckers...'

As time passed, team after team were thrown out, most saying that the claims of them cheating were baseless, but that didn't stop the chunin from kicking them out. "Put down your pencils, the time for the final question is here!" roared Ibiki, getting them all to drop whatever they were doing and face him. "Now, before I ask, there are some additional rules that accompany this one. If you answer incorrectly, you will never be allowed to take the Chunin Exams again."

"Bullshit! There are plenty who took the exams before!" shouted Kiba from somewhere.

"Then you're just unlucky. My exam, my rules. And the other is that you are allowed to not answer this question and forfeit the entire test. Your teammates will be disqualified as well, but you will be able to take another exam at a later time. So...what will it be? Raise your hand if you don't want to continue." Even more teams started streaming out of the room, not willing to take the chance.

"Any who would leave are fools. Why would you stop when you've come so far? True ninja would take the chances, even if it means you fail. What would your villages and senseis think if they found out that you stopped when you were so close?" called out Menma.

A few that were left turned to look at her. "But if we don't get it right, we might never become chunin!"

"That doesn't matter. Why did you become a shinobi if you weren't willing to take whatever odds the world throws at you? You run away now...you don't just fail your homes, you fail yourselves, and the very people that helped you get here!"

"She's right...mom would be so disappointed if I came back without giving it my all…" murmured one, and soon no more left, steeled into their decision to stay.

'I didn't expect that to happen...now there are more than normal teams. Anko is going to get a field day out of this...' "So, is this all that will remain?"

"Yes!" they all shouted.

"Then all I have left to say is...you all have passed!"

"...what?" asked Ino.

"Let me explain. The first nine questions were to test your intelligence gathering skills. A ninja is suppose to be stealthy and unnoticed, able to get any information without being caught. The tenth was a test in itself. It was to see how you did with between two difficult choices, in this case it was choosing between saving yourself and your team _but_ denying your duties to the village, or taking the risk."

"I see now...very clever." commented Sasuke.

"Yes, it was, but our time is done here. I, Ibiki Morino, declare the first exam complete!" A dark shape started getting closer to the window after he said that, breaking into hundreds of tiny pieces. The object threw kunai with the ringed ends being tied with cloth into the ceiling, unfolding and attaching it to the ceiling. A woman now stood in front of the genin, having purple hair tied up in a spiked ponytail similar to Shikamaru, wore a mesh body suit under a tan trench coat and a orange mini-skirt. The thing she arrived in was a banner, with the words 'Here comes the proctor of the second exam: Anko Mitarashi!' on it.

"Hello genin, there's no time to celebrate! I will be the proctor of the next exam, Anko Mitarashi. Are you all ready for it? Good! Follow me!" No one reacted to her speech, instead they were still in shock over the abrupt new arrival.

"You're early. Again." said the man now behind the curtain.

"Wow, theres a lot still here. Are you going soft?"

Ibiki moved to her side. "Or it could be that they are better than normal."

"Could be...but no matter, before I'm done with them, there will be less than half left. Tomorrow morning, I want you all to meet me at Training Ground Forty-Four." The pineapple-haired kunoichi jumped out of the same opening she made, and the genin went home.

* * *

While the test takers walked back to wherever they were staying, Minato stood at the gate, waiting for a very important guest. 'Today...today could mark a step towards global cooperation.'

"Lord Hokage, I can see three people coming down the road." said one of the stand in guards while Kotetsu and Izumo had other duties to attend to.

"Can you spot any identifying insignia?"

"Yes. A headdress similar to your own, but blue."

'That means she's here.' After a few minutes, the visitors got into speaking distance

"Hello, Hokage-dono. It's nice to finally meet you." said the sole woman in the group. She was the one wearing the hat, a symbol of her high station. She wore a blue, long sleeved dress that stopped just below her knees, and beneath that wore mesh armor that covered just a bit more than the dress itself. Her hair was auburn and reached her ankles, and her eyes were the same green as the grass outside. One of her companions was a blue-haired, one eyed older man that wore a green haori over his grey, stripped clothes. The other looked like a standard Kirigakure shinobi, just there as an extra measure of protection.

"Likewise, Mizukage-dono. Come, let's walk. We have a lot to talk about."


	28. Chapter 28

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 28**

"How was your journey here? Peaceful, I hope?" asked Minato to his fellow Kage as he led her to where she would be staying for the length of her trip.

"It was fine, I got to take in much of your country. It's so strange, seeing just how different our two homes are. This place is bright and sunny, the Land of Water is damp and misty. It's also quite warmer here, but this _is_ the Land of Fire, after all."

"Good to hear you had no troubles. You know, I was surprised when you sent that missive a month ago. We hadn't heard anything from Kiri besides the outbreak of the civil war, but we had no idea who to help, due to limited intelligence."

The green eyed leader seemed to age at the mention of the internal struggle her homeland went through. "Yes...the civil war...I'm glad it's over. I wish it hadn't came to that, but Yagura was targeting all citizens with kekkei genkai, he had to be stopped."

His eyes widened. "He would target his own villagers?! The ones who trusted him with their lives?! What a tyrant..."

"He was, but he wasn't always like that. He once was a caring leader that did his best to protect Kiri and it's citizens, but then he just...changed. He began restricting our rights, forced students to kill each other to pass the Academy, and then declared than anyone with a kekkei genkai was to not be trusted and even eliminated."

"I'm sorry...if I knew, I would have sent help."

"It's fine, we had an ally that assisted us in killing Yagura, which was why I hadn't sent anything sooner. We only just put things back together, and we're ready to reestablish our standing in the world."

"An ally? Did you manage to get Kumo?"

"No, it was a young woman. A few of my men caught her sneaking near our secret base, and naturally they assumed she was one of Yagura's spies, so they knocked her out and brought her in. When I interrogated her, she said she was after the current Mizukage for reasons she never fully told. I decided that she should be tested, in case she was fit for combat. She was, and we waited for an opportunity, and it came when a force led by Yagura himself found our hideout. One of my subordinates was a traitor and leaked our position, so we tried to make an escape, but the woman convinced us to stand our ground and fight for our freedom. Her, Ao, and I focused on Yagura, and eventually she used some strange jutsu to completely immobilize him while he was distracted, allowing us to kill him. The attackers lost their morale after that and gave up."

"What happened to the woman?"

"She just left. We haven't heard from her since, but I've been keeping people on the lookout. I want to reward her properly for her part in saving our country."

The Hokage nodded. "I see. Well, you must be tired from the walk to Konoha, Mizukage-dono. I booked you and your escorts rooms in a wonderful hotel just ahead. We can start discussing details on the alliance tomorrow morning. Is that good?"

"That will work. Thank you, Hokage-dono, for this chance. Have a nice evening."

"You too." Minato left them using the Hiraishin, and the foreigners moved into what would be their homes for the entirety of their visit.

**-_night_-**

"So Ao, have you found out anything about the genin team we sent?" asked the Fifth Mizukage as she lazed out on her suites bed, watching a program on TV.

The blue haired veteran cleared his throat from his place near the door. "Yes. Chojuro, Kaito, and Arata have passed the first exam, and tomorrow will be going to a place called the Forest of Death."

"Sounds like a nice place." she sarcastically said before letting out a sigh. "Chojuro is an upcoming member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and yet he isn't as...courageous as he should be. Maybe these exams will refine him into what he needs to be in order to survive as a shinobi."

"Of course they will, my lady." They stayed there in silence, until the redhead decided to address a certain...'issue'.

"You can go to your own room, Ao. I don't need you guarding me while I sleep, and I'm sure you're tired as well."

"If that is what you wish. Good-" Just then, something in the back of his mind told him that someone had entered the suite. "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

"I'm not hiding, I'm right here." a clearly female voice said from behind him, causing the hunter-nin to turn around, and there she was, sitting on the couch like she was there the entire time. "Good to see you again Ao, Mei. Get it? Because I'm...oh, forget it. You don't. Making jokes isn't my strong suit."

Mei got up from her comfy mattress and prepared for battle. "Who are you? How do you know our names?"

"You don't recognize me? What am I saying, of course you don't, I don't look like I once did." The new arrival let out some red chakra, getting the other two occupants to become wide eyed.

"Discordia?!"

"Wow, did I really use that one with you as well? Anyway, I don't use that name anymore. Call me Kuro Kama no Menma, Kuro Kama, or just Menma."

"You look very different. How'd you get so short, and what happened to your red hair?"

"All just a henge. So how have you two been? I hope things in Kiri have calmed down after what we did."

Mei took a seat next to her. "We've been well. For that past ten months I've just been getting an entire hidden village back on track, and Ao has been doing his normal duties: making sure I'm protected and tracking missing-nin."

"Good. I knew you were going to be the next Mizukage, you were far too strong, intelligent, and well known for you not too."

She smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, you are too kind. And how have you been? You just up and left after we killed Yagura, you didn't even say good bye."

"Sorry about that, but I...was on a journey and it led me back to the west, so I had to leave at the soonest possible moment. My life here is...pretty good, I'd say. I'm taking part in the Chunin Exams despite being one of the 'rookies', and I have friends that I'd gladly die for. Oh, and before I forget, I have something that I think you may want to see…" Menma brought out the giant sword from it's seal.

"Kubikiribocho...that means Zabuza is dead. Damn, he was a good man…"

"Zabuza? A good man? Are we talking about the same missing-nin?"

"Momochi?" The girl nodded. "Yeah, he was a double agent of mine. The last thing he sent me was that he was going to try to kill Yagura, but he failed and just...disappeared, cutting all contacts with the rebels and taking his sword with him."

"Uh...whoops. If I'd known all that, I would have tried to keep him alive, but at the time he didn't really want to talk and he was trying to kill my friends, so I killed him."

"There's nothing we can do about it now, it happened. But now that we've crossed paths again, I want to reward you for helping the rebels take down the Fourth Mizukage. So...what do you want? Money? I can transfer some ryo from my own personal treasury if that's what you want."

Menma chuckled. "Thanks, but no thanks. I have all the money I need...but there are two things I want."

"Name them, and if they're within my power, I will grant them."

"First, I want to keep Kubikiribocho. I've grown attached to it, and after hearing how much I misjudged Zabuza, I think I should honor him by using his sword."

She momentarily looked conflicted before settling on a decision. "Granted."

"Second, tell me the names of all the genin you sent here..._if_ you have. I don't want to accidently kill them, you know?"

"Kaito, Arata, and Chojuro. Chojuro is the one with a two-handled sword on his back, so he's easy to spot."

"An up and coming member of the Seven, I take it?"

"Yes. Out of all of the students in his graduating class he had the most talent for kenjutsu, to the point it would be a crime if we didn't see if he could become the newest member. We have no living swordsmen to train him, so we're using the exams as a way to measure how far he's come and hopefully make him mature a bit."

"He's childish?"

"Oh, far from it. He's just very timid and shy, not very good qualities in a shinobi."

"And you hope the exams break him out of that...smart, since the first exam was pretty much dressed up mental torture, and we're going to the Forest of Death first thing in the morning, so if he doesn't realise that he needs to be confident, he will die."

"That's what I assumed, with a name like that."

"Yeah...okay, I think I've taken up enough of your time. You probably want some sleep, and the more I talk, the longer you go without it. It was nice speaking to you again, maybe we can do this again another time." She resealed her weapon and approached the window, one foot on the sill, but the Mizukage stopped her from leaving.

"Wait, there's one more thing I want to talk about."

"What is it?"

"The Sanbi."

'Shit.' "Oh...well, it's probably just roaming the wild now."

"No it's not, we would have had sightings by now, and when we finished off my predecessor, we could feel it leave his body and enter your own. What did you do with it?"

"...all you need to know is that I'm protecting him from all the people that would abuse him like some animal. If you want to take him back, you will need to go over my cold, dead body. I don't care if we were former comrades, any who would use another living being as a weapon are worse scum than I, and that gives me the right to exterminate them. Don't make me do that to you."

"I wasn't planning on it, I was just curious. I'm sorry if I angered you."

"Good. Enjoy your talks, Miss Mizukage." Menma lept out of the window, and waited for the dawn.

**-_morning, Forest of Death_-**

All teams that passed the first portion of the Chunin Exams stood in front of Anko and a small group of chunin, waiting for instructions from the purple haired jonin. "Okay, looks like everyone's here. Welcome...to the Forest of Death!" Screeching, loud footsteps, and the sound of falling trees made their way to the genin's ears, unnerving quite a few of them.

"You want us to go in there?!" yelled a shinobi from Suna, getting a large grin from the proctor.

"Yep! This will be your battleground for the second exam. Each team will be given either a heaven or an earth scroll, and you must get the one you are missing from another team. How you get it is up to you, but you'll most likely use force. When you have both, you must make your way to the tower in the middle and open them there. If you open one or both at any other time, you will be disqualified. This test _does_ have a time limit: five days. If you don't make it to the tower by then, you will also be disqualified. Now, due to the dangers inside, all of you must sign waivers saying Konoha is not accountable for any of your potential deaths." She motioned for the man carrying the papers to start handing them out. "When you're done with that, go to the little stand over there to get your scroll and your gate number." After a few minutes, Team Kakashi was sent down to the twenty-second gate, with a heaven scroll stored in one of Menma's seals as an extra precaution.

"Are you guys okay?" suddenly asked Menma.

"Huh? Why would you ask that?" responded Mito.

"Because I can sense your unease, you can't hide it from me." She turned to face them. "Sasuke, who trained you?"

He knew where she was probably going with this, but he responded anyway. "My...brother, and Shisui."

"And do you worry that Itachi's just going to come back and finish what he started?"

"No...not anymore."

"Than you don't need to be afraid of damn trees, stupid monsters, and genin. Itachi is a far scarier individual then them, I reckon, being able to murder many highly trained shinobi. Mito, you can actually _use_ the Kyuubi's power, nothing in there can compare to the strength you possess. You two can do this, _we_ can do this." This reassured them, and the seconds ticked by, the wait for the signal excruciatingly long. The chunin with them unlocked the chain keeping the gate closed, and stood clear. Soon, the gate snapped open, and they rushed forth into their next challenge.

**-_two hours later_-**

"Grr...where are all the others?! We should have ran into someone by now!" growled the now not so calm blind one as her team sat on a tree branch in the perpetually dark forest.

"Maybe we just have bad luck?" tried the Uchiha.

"Going by the Wave mission, yes we do, but we _need_ to find another team. We're going to have to separate."

"What?! Isn't that the _worst_ thing we could do?!" yelled a shocked Mito.

"Possibly, but we don't have a choice. If we split up, we can cover more ground."

"But we work best as a group! Take that away, and we can't possibly fight another team if it comes to that!"

"Aren't you forgetting something? I have memorized and can sense your chakras. If you run into one that's violent, all you have to do is flare your chakra and I'll be there as soon as possible."

"_(Sigh) _When you put it like that it's hard to see the downside…alright, we'll set out separately for a bit. I'll go north, Menma, you can go east, and Sasuke...you got the west." Her teammates nodded, and she and Sasuke took off as fast as they could, while Menma jumped to the forest floor and walked in her designated direction for a few minutes.

"Seeing as how you're still here, I was correct in the assumption that you are after me. Stop hiding." She said to seemingly no-one, but three people hopped down from the higher branches and surrounded her. One had his head covered in bandages, his left eye the only thing showing, and wore a poncho with long-sleeves, a snake patterned scarf that each of them shared, and a straw raincoat. The other male had spiky black hair and a beige shirt with the kanji for 'death' on it, and the girl had similarly black hair that nearly reached the ground and wore a pale green vest.

"We thought it best to eliminate you, but we knew that if you had your squad with you, we wouldn't win. Thank you for making this easier." said the one eyed genin.

"No problem...but I think you underestimate me. I am Kuro Kama no Menma, new wielder of Kubikiribocho, jinchuuriki of the Nanabi, member of Team-"

"Oh shut up already, we know all of that!" yelled the female.

"...how rude. Well, if you want to fight _that_ badly…" She summoned the giant butcher knife and charged at the one who interrupted her, but the opponent was quicker than she thought, dodging out of harms way while her teammate prepared a technique.

"Decapitating Airwaves!" Sound and air pressure shot out of his hands to the Konoha-nin, who recovered fast enough to use the blunt of the blade as a shock absorber, taking the brunt of the blast while only pushing her back slightly. When they died down, she went after him next, like he thought, and he used the jutsu again. "Decapitating Airwaves!" This time, Menma turned the weapon so that the blade's edge faced him, allowing the waves to lose much of their punch and her to march onward. "Grr...fine! Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!" His attack was turned up to eleven, tearing the ground with it and sending the girl flying into a tree, bounce off it, and fall flat on her face. As she got up, the creepy looking one ran up and took a swing at her, but she moved her head out of the way just in time not to get hit.

"Heh, you're going to need to try harder than-HNNG!" Her ears started ringing, and her stomach started to rebel, forcing her to stop moving and hold one of her ears. 'Wha...what the fuck?! He didn't...but he didn't...oh, I don't feel so good...'

"Wondering what happened?" he asked, and she nodded. "You can thank my arm. Even if I don't hit you, you're still going to be hurt."

'I...don't know where they came from...but if I don't step up, I can actually die here...' Her four tailed form exploded from her body, and she hefted her sword with one hand, pointing it at the man in front of her. "You had a shot when I didn't know what you could do, but now...now you can't compare to me! I will take your scroll over your dead bodies!" Using her new-found speed, she avoided the heavily covered enemy, going after the one that sent her into the tree instead. Before he could react, she swung Kubikiribocho like a bat, hitting and possibly breaking his arm while sending him into a tree like he did to Menma just a second ago.

"Zaku!" shouted the girl. She went into the pouch on her leg and pulled out a bunch of senbon, some with bells, and threw them at the jinchuuriki. Hearing the tolls of the bells, she expertly maneuvered around them, but was hit by one or two of the silent needles in her left arm, the one she was currently using to wield her sword. "Hah! What are you going to do now that you can't use your arm?"

"You think this can stop me?! You fool! I am not left handed!" Regaining her heavy tool, she got near her and kicked the girl as hard as she could in the stomach, in the end making her tumble to the ground unconscious. "Now...there is only-" She stopped mid-sentence, sensing Kurama's chakra resonate from the north. 'If she needs to call upon this much of his chakra _here_...I have to be by her side!' "Looks like you're lucky. Take your comrades and go bother someone else, I have more important business to deal with." She started running to Mito's position, leaving her confused opponent behind.

**-_a few minutes earlier_-**

'Okay, I have to agree with Menma, WHERE IS EVERYONE?!' mentally yelled Mito, getting her tenant to groan.

"**Turn it down a notch, kit! I can hear whatever you think!"**

'Sorry...but have you sensed anyone?'

"**No. It's as if the entire forest has swallowed all the competitors up, and we're the last ones here."**

She didn't like that picture. 'You can feel Chomei though, right?'

"**Of course, but nothing else. Keep an eye out."**

'I will.' She went back scanning her surroundings, and eventually she spotted a potential ally/target, a long haired man wearing a grey robe, black pants, a large purple bow around his waist, and a wide straw hat. "Hey, you! I want to talk to you!" He turned at her voice.

"Me?"

"Yes, I don't see anyone else I could be talking to!"

"You could be a little nicer to strangers."

"I could, but this is a survival exercise, and you're not from my village, so I'm wary. Anyway, do you have a spare earth scroll I could have?"

"I _do_ have an earth scroll, but you will have to take it from me if you want it."

"That's fine, I figured this was how it was going to go down." She opened by launching a handful of shuriken, all of which were easily dodged, and dashed to him, throwing a jab that was deflected. 'Well...this could be a lot harder than I expected. Gotta get crafty...' She took a hit and jumped back. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five clones popped out of thin air and the daughter of the Hokage had three of them jump back into the fray while the other two made their way behind him. The mysterious yet strong genin wasted no time in destroying them, but couldn't move in time when the remaining ones threw out more kunai, this time with explosive tags attached to their handles, at his feet. The ground shook for a minute and dust flew into the air, surprising the young girl at the tags power. 'Wow...so three of those equal some pain...thanks mom!'

"**Unfortunately, I don't think that worked. I can sense anger from this guy, so he's not dead."**

As if to prove his point, the cloud of debris dissipated, showing a still standing shinobi, yet something was..._wrong_. "Half...half of your face is missing...how did you survive?"

Yes, the strange shinobi endured with his pants, hat, lower part of his robe, and even most of his own face torn apart, and where his flesh once covered now showed pasty white skin, purple eye markings, and a single, golden snake-like eye. "Oh my...it seems you are far more experienced than I anticipated. You managed to remove nearly all of my mask, I guess it makes no difference if I take the rest off…" Bringing up his hand, he grabbed the ripped edge and began pulling, and Mito almost threw up when he got to his eye, removing the cover with an audible pop. "Ah, much better. I always feel my best whenever I use my own face."

"Who...who are you? _What_ are you?"

"I could ask the same of you, young Mito, but I am Orochimaru."

Her deep blue orbs widened. "Orochimaru?! Of the Sannin?!"

The defector made a mock bow. "The very same."

"**This is not good. If this guy's going to be your opponent, you will have to use my chakra. I can tell just how much stronger he is compared to you."** advised the fox.

'Right...I have to use every bit I can handle.' The characteristic red chakra came to life around her, and her eyes slitted, becoming the same crimson shade as Kurama's.

"Hm...yes, this is interesting...come, attack me. I want to see just how much you can do."

"Fine!" She leapt at the snake, ready to tear him apart with her sharpened nails, only to miss every swing as if they weren't even there and she was kicked away with ease.

"Silly girl, not even you using the Kyuubi's power can you hope to defeat me. All you can manage to do is give me some entertainment."

"That may be true...but I can damn well try!" She began forming some seals, and gained a smirk. "I was taught this by Sasuke, in memory of my sister! Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Multiple fireballs shot from her mouth, becoming a fast wall of flame going after the Sannin, yet to him it may as well have been child's play. Even with the difficult nature of the flames, he easily got through it and appeared next to the young girl, but it turned out to be a clone as it *poofed* when it was struck. Using the distraction, she descended from the branch she stood on and made a downward swipe with her claws, barely getting his shoulder to draw blood. Immediately afterward he gave a right hook, sending her to the ground.

"Kck...that was good. I keep underestimating you, despite everything I know about you. I must stop that. Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" Snakes slithered out of his sleeve and coiled around the Namikaze, slowly squeezing the life out of her. "You could be a problem later, when you actually know how to use your strength. I must eliminate you. It'll be heartbreaking for the almighty Fourth, having to bury his last daughter, but at least you'll be able to see your sister again."

"N-no...I...I have to...bring our dream to...life!" 'Fuzzball! I need more!'

"**If I give you anymore, you'll lose any semblance of humanity! You're not ready for it yet!"**

'If you don't we'll die!'

"**No we won't! I can feel Menma approaching, just hang in there!"**

'What?' Suddenly, another girl draped in red and carrying a giant sword cut the snakes holding her, put an arm around her, and took off as fast as you could blink.

"Hm...so that's who I've been hearing about...things got even more interesting." mused Orochimaru, who started to walk after the girls.

* * *

Menma had stopped behind a tree to check on her teammate. "I got here as fast as I could. Are you okay?"

"I-I am now. If you didn't show up when you did, that could be a very different story."

"Good. Can you walk?"

"I'm pretty sure...my legs feel alright." Her friend released her from her rather constricting one armed hug. "Orochimaru is going to come after us, so we need to think of a plan."

"I already have one. You run, make a clone to let the higher ups know about this, and regroup with Sasuke while I keep him busy."

"No! I know you're strong, but you're not strong enough to fight someone like that!"

"I know, but someone has to buy time for Anko or even your father to get here to apprehend him! You can't do it with only one tail, and I can use six! I'm the best choice for this!"

"Or we both can just run! It's the best option against him!"

The dark haired girl lowered her head. "I'm sorry...I can't do that. I have to fight him."

"Why?! Stop being stupid and think this-"

"NO! I WON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH HURTING YOU!" she snapped.

"...what?"

"You heard me! He's not coming out of this unscathed after what he just did. _I won't let a single person that hurts you live…_"

"Aww, that's cute, but I'm going to have to put a stop to it." writhed a voice from behind, and they didn't even need to look around the trunk to know it was the legendary snake summoner.

"Run! I'll handle this!" Menma brought her maximum, and charged with her sword. Orochimaru wasn't quite prepared for her surprising speed, so when he moved his head to dodge the blade, it got a lock of hair from him.

'So fast for a genin...I'll need to bring out a little more of my own power.' He started moving faster, toying with the girl as she missed like her friend. Seeing her slow down for a split second, he grabbed her by the collar, headbutted her, and tossed her away like a rag doll. "Really? This is all you can do? I expected more out of Konoha's 'perfect jinchuuriki'."

'Damn it...thanks to my fight against those strange guys, I can't fight like a normally can...six tails isn't enough!'

"**Are you sure you want to go up to seven? If you do, it'll start straining your body."** warned Chomei.

'Yes. I _will_ make him pay...' She felt a surge of power go through her, and the final tail summoned itself from the cloak.

The snake summoner's eyes narrowed. 'This could be bad...all seven tails means she can use the majority of the Nanabi's power...I won't be able to block with my bare hands anymore.' A snake slithered up his throat, poking it's head out of his mouth and spitting out a katana, which Orochimaru wasted no time in picking a stance with.

Menma didn't say anything as she closed in, fully intent on fighting against one of the strongest shinobi Konoha has ever produced. Metal hit metal as they clashed over and over, seemingly equal in swordsmanship. As her sword bounced back from a failed slash, she sweeped her tails in an effort to overwhelm her enemy by sheer numbers, but he got even faster, deflecting the appendages with some difficulty and trying a stab. She used her blade to change it's course and kicked him, making him stumble away a few feet, and she had a tail hold on to Kubikiribocho as she started making hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" The powerful gust of wind hit the Sannin, but he used a kawarimi to avoid major damage.

"You want to play that game? Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" His attack was just as strong as hers, but she didn't use a substitution in time to avoid it, so she was sent flying away until she impaled her weapon into the earth to stop herself.

'I...I can't believe this...I should have been able to injure him at least once...is there such a large difference between jonin-level and kage-level?! At this rate...I will die before back up arrives. I have no choice but to show some of my secrets, then.'

The beetle could tell what her next plan was, and he wasn't happy with it. "**No! Don't do it, it'll tear your body apart! You can't handle two different beings at once at this age!"**

'I don't have any other option! It's either this or I die, and this may be the fastest way for someone to sense him!' From under her clothes, a seal array that looked like the one that she used to keep Chomei's chakra hidden appeared on her back, cracked, and finally split apart, showing another seal, which the main part was a large swirl. 'I release you from the restrictions, Son Goku! Give me your power!'

"**Finally! I've been waiting for ages for you to talk to me again, I almost thought you forgot about me!" **the Yonbi gave her what she wanted, and the chakra shroud started going berserk. The wind picked up, earth tore apart at her feet, and the very air raised in temperature a few degrees. Two more tails grew out of the mass as she cut her arm, summoning Solitary Midnight. She wasted no time in charging it with chakra, and the blade of blood soon turned obsidian, with flowing orange rivers manifesting themselves on it.

'Another Kyuubi? No...she managed to become a jinchuuriki of more than one biju, and can use their power simultaneously.' "I see...so you _are_ the one that was giving _them_ so much trouble...you have made quite a few powerful enemies, young girl."

'Pain...so much pain...but...I...have to keep GOING!' "SILENCE!" she yelled, swinging the scythe far too short to reach him, but an arc of flames came from it, and Orochimaru jumped over it, only to have a single, glowing white chain tangle itself on his foot. "GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME!" She pulled it with her free hand, dragging him towards her as she brought up both of her long weapons up to impale him to the ground, but he used another kawarimi to escape.

'She can use chakra chains, too? I'm going to have to get serious, since if I make one wrong move, she could severely injure me.' He brought out much of his own chakra, causing his own surges of wind, and he went back to clashing with the genin who didn't care about her own body.

**-_meanwhile: Konoha: Hokage's Office_-**

"So if we give up twenty percent of the missions we currently get to Kiri, your village should get an monetary increase of-" Minato stopped as he felt three great powers clashing in the Forest of Death. "No way...do you feel that too, Mizukage-dono?"

Mei nodded. "Yes, I do. Isn't that coming from where the genin are testing?"

"Yes. At first I thought it was nothing, Mito using the Kyuubi's power isn't nothing to worry about...but now there's the Nanabi, what feels like another biju, and Orochimaru all fighting each other. I'm sorry, but we'll need to cut this short. I need to end whatever is going on before anybody gets hurt."

"Then I'm coming too. I will not stay behind while such a danger is present."

"Then grab my shoulder, and prepare for a disorienting ride." She complied, and he felt out the nearest hiraishin marker, which would be on his daughter. 'There you are...' They blinked out of the office, and found themselves standing in front of a panting Mito.

"D-dad?!"

"Hey kiddo. What's going on? I could feel a battle from all the way in Konoha."

"Orochimaru! He...he somehow infiltrated the exams and I found him. I fought him for a bit before being subdued, and then Menma saved me. She told me to find Sasuke and get help, and she started fighting him on her own! I don't know what's happening anymore, but fuzzball is going crazy in my head…"

"**How is Son Goku here?! What is she hiding?!"** roared both halves from inside the father and daughter.

"I can tell...look, we're going to put a stop to this. Stay here while we do that, okay?"

"Okay...but who is she?"

"I'm the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi. We should get going, before the fight moves somewhere else."

"Right." The Kages sped off, soon finding the battlefield.

"Ah!" They arrived just in time to see the Sannin punch the girl square in the jaw, making her drop Kubikiribocho and dispel Solitary Midnight, which left a molten puddle, as she hit the ground.

"I...I don't know how you can use more than one biju's power so easily _and_ stay alive, but your time is done! I can't let you live, otherwise you might become a threat to all my plans!"

The Hokage wasn't going to let him kill Menma. "Rasengan!" He formed his signature jutsu instantly, and with his insane speed, Orochimaru could do nothing as the spinning ball hit him right in the back and send him spiralling into a tree. "And what would they be, Orochimaru?"

The pale shinobi picked himself up from his impromptu flight. "Grr...I should have known that using most of my power during that battle would have alerted someone to my presence…"

"You made a mistake coming here, but I'm glad you did. Now I can save sensei and Hiruzen the trouble of killing you."

"You think I'd let you kill me?" He scoffed. "I'm not done with Konoha yet. One day, I _will_ destroy it, but I'll cut my losses." Three giant snakes stampeded from the trees, and they went straight after the downed Menma, who was powerless to do anything.

"Damn! Mei, we need to kill those snakes!"

"On it! Lava Release: Melting Apparition Jutsu!" A wave of steaming mud escaped her lips, hitting one of the snakes and melting through it's scales, flesh, and bones, killing it. Minato rushed to the one that got the closest to the dark haired genin and crushed it's head with a Rasengan, before throwing one of his special kunai at the remaining one, teleporting, and doing the same thing.

"That was easy, but he's gone. Of course he knew I would protect one of my ninja first over taking him down."

"He'll make an appearance again, don't let it weigh to much on your mind. It's better to make sure the next generation survives."

"Yeah…" He turned to the still rather motionless girl and made his way to her. "Hey, are you alright?"

Menma gave out pained laughter. "Ha...great joke...too bad that I can't feel my bones…"

The blue eyed man shook his head. "What possessed you to fight someone of Orochimaru's caliber head on? You must've known it was suicide."

"He...he hurt...Mito...needed...to make him pay...got him a few times...heh, the looks on his allies faces when he tells them he was forced back by...a simple genin!"

He had to smile at that. "You are far from 'a simple genin', but you need a hospital."

"No! I...I have to pass the exams...I heal fast anyway…"

"Menma!" Mito hadn't listened to her dad and followed him despite the dangers, and rushed to the blind one's side, trying to evaluate how much damage she suffered.

"Hey...Mito."

"Are you okay?"

"Not really...forced two different biju chakras through the same system at the same time...not prepared for that...give me a months time, I can make it work...maybe."

"How do you have two biju's anyway? No...that's not important at the moment. You need medical attention, you are far too wounded."

Menma forced herself to sit up. "Stop worrying...I heal faster than a normal person. How else do you think I could survive forcing such powerful chakra's through me?"

"If you say so…" she turned to her father. "What do we do now?"

"I...don't know. Usually a Sannin doesn't drop in during an exam and actually fights the genin participating."

"We find Sasuke, an earth scroll, and keep going. Even after this little debacle, our test is still going, and I'd be damned if we quit now." said the injured genin.

"Are you sure you want to keep going? There's no shame in pulling out after going through that." asked the Mizukage.

"Who the hell do you think I am? If _I_ quit, then my team quits. I won't prolong Mito and Sasuke's futures just because I'm hurt."

"Okay then. If you believe you can keep going, then keep going. Since Orochimaru's gone and I still have work to do, I have no reason to stay here any longer. See you later, girls, and good luck." He put a hand on Mei's shoulder and used the Hiraishin to leave.

"I'm good now...we can get going as soon as you want." said Menma after a moment of stark silence and popping some pain killers.

"Yeah...yeah, let's hurry and-"

"Heeeey! What's happening over here?!" yelled a familiar loud voice, and soon Team Eight was among the duo.

"Kiba? Hinata? Shino? What are you three doing here?"

"Are you kidding me?! How could we _not_ feel the massive amounts of powerful chakra that was coming from here!"

She started rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment at forgetting such a simple detail. "Oh...right…"

"S-so what happened? I saw your dad here just a second ago..." asked the Hyuga, who had her Byakugan on.

A chuckle escaped from Menma. "That would be me, I fought Orochimaru of the Sannin. Sorry, dog boy, I don't think you have a chance of defeating me anymore."

Kiba gained a devilish grin. "But you must be tired after that. I bet I could take you down right now."

The Namikaze forced herself between them. "Stop, I don't want to fight when we don't have to. Hinata, do you have a spare earth scroll we could take?"

"N-no, but we can help you get one...if that's okay with the others?"

The Aburame nodded. "I think it would be most logical to form a temporary alliance. We have strength in numbers, and if Orochimaru comes back, we have a better chance to stand against him."

"I may not like Menma, but she _is_ one of Konoha's best, along with Mito, so I see no harm in it. What about you boy?" Akamaru yipped in response to Kiba's question. "He doesn't either."

"Great! I'm glad we don't have to fight each other! Come on, we need to find Sasuke. He's probably wondering what happened over here, and may need our help." The other four agreed with her, and they took off after the Uchiha.

**-_a little bit later_-**

"Okay, _why_ are we stalking Kabuto's team?" asked Sasuke to the ring leader of this plan. The other five found him earlier standing among an unconscious team, the same one that attacked Menma. It turns out that after their little scuffle, the one apparently named Zaku had a broken arm and couldn't really fight, so Sasuke rather easily took them all out with the Sharingan and his higher than normal skills. They also had the earth scroll that Team Kakashi needed, so now Menma, Mito, and Sasuke were helping Team Kurenai with trying to find a heaven scroll.

"Because I know Orochimaru's chakra now, and I can feel small traces of it on _him_." Menma pointed at Kabuto, who was currently sitting in peace. "Even though it's small, the snake's chakra is strong, and to a gifted sensor, I can feel it off of him. No one can trust him."

"But couldn't he have been attacked, like us?" reasoned Mito.

"I don't think so. To have someone else's chakra on you either means one of these things: you've been around that person for long enough that you have an 'imprint' of them on you. You can't _use_ it, of course, but it is handy to people who need to find someone. The other is that the chakra is forcibly put there, by either being given it, or by taking it by an absorption technique, but at some point the chakra would change into the recipients or just fade away. Given the fact that I can sense Orochimaru on him...I don't think I need to explain any farther."

"Okay, so what do we do about it?"

"I'm thinking! Hm...okay, this is what we'll do: I want all of you to hide and surround them. Your job is to keep them from running while I try to face them head on."

"But you just faced a _Sannin_! You shouldn't be jumping into three on one battles at this time!" The blonde hissed quietly.

"Don't worry, Chomei, Son Goku, and I have this. Just follow the plan." Her teammates and comrades in arms reluctantly nodded, and took their positions as Menma took a spot above Kabuto. 'It's been awhile since I used this...I hope it doesn't feel as strange as it did before.' "Dog, ox, hare, snake...Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu!" Three fist-sized globs of semi-cooled molten rock burst from her mouth and descended on the unsuspecting team at a rapid pace, hitting the two with face covers in the head while Kabuto managed to avoid his ball of death. They screamed in pain, trying their best to wipe the substance off, but they eventually died from the lava burning into their skulls. Menma jumped down, and faced the silver haired man.

"What are you doing?! We're from the same village!"

"Maybe we are, but one of us isn't loyal. I know you know Orochimaru, you have his chakra all over you, and please don't try to play dumb, you can't fool me."

Kabuto's eyes narrowed. "Fine. It seems you caught me. What are you going to do about it?"

"Kill you, scum."

"Good luck with that, I'm on the same level as your teacher."

"Funny you should mention that, so am I!" A different red shroud oozed out of her, forming four tails that weren't like her normal.

"This isn't the Nanabi's chakra..." he commented, getting a grin from her.

"No it isn't! Feast your eyes on the Yonbi's, the instrument to your destruction! It will be painful, it won't be swift, the great monkey king's wrath is instantaneous!"

"**Oh great...it seems like Son Goku's personality is leaking into her…"** dryly commented Kurama.

Menma engaged the agent, and even in her damaged state she was about even with him, but every little bit of damage she managed to do was healed nearly instantly. 'What is with this guy? How come I'm not doing anything?! I know my attacks are connecting...'

"**He seems to know a technique that allows him to shrug off damage. I don't think you can beat him at the moment, not when you yourself can't fight at the top of your game."** said the monkey, getting a groan from the other biju.

"**I was just about to say that…"**

'Then we go to plan B!' "Everyone! Attack!" From their hiding spots, the five other genin made themselves known and since the other members of Kabuto's team were now deceased with cooled pieces of lava on them, they formed a circle around the pretender. Sasuke's Sharingan was on, Mito had the slitted, red eyes and a snarl on her face, Hinata had her Byakugan, Shino was covered in his bugs, and Kiba was down on all fours, ready to pounce. "Can you take us all on while worrying about me, Kabuto?"

He smirked, and pushed his glasses up. "Now isn't this unfair?"

"It's called 'getting an advantage', surely you know of it?"

"Yes I do...since I have one myself!" He brought out a small canister and threw it on the ground, causing a bright, blinding flash to disorient all but Menma and Shino, and used the distraction to start his retreat.

"Oh no you don't!" To reach him, she formed a chakra chain and tried to get him like his master, but he simply turned, coated his hand in chakra, and cut it. "What?! No one should be able to just cut through my chains!"

"**You're **_**tired**_**, Menma. After straining your chakra coils to such an amount, **_**and**_ **deciding to not rest one bit, you can't fight like you could have just an hour ago. Also take in account that Kabuto said he was around your sensei in skill, and it's a no brainer as to why he could cut your 'unbreakable' chains."** this time the beetle beat his brother to it.

'But I don't feel tired...it's the adrenaline, isn't it?'

"**Yes. You better hope that one of the ones you killed has the scroll that other team needs, or else you might have to abandon them to make it to the tower before nightfall. Taking your sleep aids out here might not be the best thing to do, not when your team may need you at any moment."**

"Okay, he got away. Great! Bah, I'll just search these guys. Uh, the black stuff is safe to touch, right?" asked the Inuzuka to the lava release user.

"They should be by now, I didn't make my jutsu go to full temperature. The most they could do now is slightly burn you."

"Sounds safe enough." He began rummaging through their pockets, and they indeed had a scroll. "Woohoo! We got a heaven scroll! We can move on to the next part!"

"Then we should get moving. We still have four days after this one to make it to the tower, but I bet we can get there in a few hours."

"What should we do with them?" asked Sasuke as he jabbed a thumb at the remnants of a team.

"Leave them, either some one up the chain of command will collect their bodies, or the fauna will devour them for a quick meal." Everyone took off for the tower with that.

* * *

"Okay, so Anko said to open them when we got here…" Menma brought out both scrolls, and handed them to her teammates. "Since I can't read, you two have to do it. Sorry I'm useless with stuff like this."

"It's fine, Menma. You don't have to apologize over something you have no control over." reassured Sasuke, before motioning to Mito to open her scroll while he did the same. "Okay, it's...a summoning seal. THROW THEM!" They, and the nearby Team Eight, who also opened theirs, did, and from the smoke stood their senseis.

"Oh, hey kids. Glad to see that you made it." said the aloof cyclops, and Mito tackled him.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you! We could have used you out there!"

"Woah, calm down. What happened?"

The other jinchuuriki step forward. "I fought Orochimaru. Well, 'fight' is too strong of a word, more like 'relentlessly got pummeled while I only got a few hits in'. Is there a place we can rest?"

"So I wasn't going crazy when I felt that foul presence from in here...to answer your question, yes. There are rooms for teams that make it before the deadline. Follow me and Kurenai, I want to know all about what happened."

* * *

**A.N.: A _long_ chapter this time. Sorry for the extended wait, as you can guess, I ran into problems with this one. With the length, some parts are probably better than others, but I think I'm getting better at making sure it stays rather coherent. I hope giving Menma multiple biju doesn't make everyone start thinking she's 'too over powered'. If anything, this only adds one or two jutsus to her repertoire, and she can't make use of more than one as a source at any given time without severely harming herself anyway... **

**Nuke Tremor: I _do_ have an idea for him, but I need to think it out a little more first before I make a definitive decision.**

**deltahalo: ...just little a bit.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 29**

"Do you realize how much danger you put yourselves in?! You should have retreated when you found out who your opponent was, but you didn't. Why? I thought I taught you better than that." criticized the jonin-sensei of Team Seven after hearing Mito and Menma's tale. They sat on a couch in a small, living room-esque area that lead into three bedrooms, one for each member of the team.

The blonde let her head down in shame. "Yes...but I thought that if I ran, he may just follow me, so I decided to stay and fight. It wasn't until after he started to beat me utterly and completely that I knew I should have taken the chance and ran. I tried to tell Menma that, but she wouldn't listen!"

"I heard." He turned to the blind one. "Again: why?"

"The reason is obvious. He. Hurt. Mito. I wasn't going to stand for that, so I fought with as much power as I could muster. Maybe not the smartest choice, but in the end it got the Hokage and the Mizukage to come and force Orochimaru out."

"Yes...two biju's in one person...I never thought I would hear of such a thing."

"Three."

"...explain."

"I don't have just two, I have one more. The Sanbi."

"But wasn't that the previous Mizukage's? How did _you_ get it? Matter of fact, how did you get the Yonbi too?"

"_(Sigh)_ It...was a dark time for me. After I became Chomei's friend, he began telling me stories of the past, mainly ones about himself. He told me about how most of his previous jinchuuriki would insult him, call him a monster, and, if they were strong enough, forcibly take his power. I was still an impressionable child back then, so I began thinking _all_ biju were treated that way, and I wanted to free them from that plight. I found a place and I trained until I thought I was ready for the hunt. I lied, conned, and manipulated others into helping me into the Land of Water, where my first target was: Yagura. I did my best to be sneaky, but I was found by men from the resistance and interrogated by it's leader, Mei, the same one now running Kiri. We both wanted him dead, so I joined forces with them and waited. Eventually we took him down, and I used my knowledge in fuinjutsu to seal Isobu into myself. I had _no _idea if it would work, already being a jinchuuriki, but it did, and I took some time to get to know him and trained in his powers before moving on. Using what both biju knew of their siblings, I decided to find the jinchuuriki of the Yonbi, and I killed him too with a surprise attack consisting of chains and five tails, but this time...I did the wrong thing. It turns out, he treated Son Goku with respect and never forced him to give up his chakra. I...I killed a good man when I was hoping to do good, so I stopped hunting other jinchuuriki. I apologized over and over to Son, and one day he forgave me after being convinced by his brothers. So there you have it...how I became…a triple-biju holding container, I guess is the best way to put it."

"But why seal them into yourself? By killing their jinchuuriki with them still inside, you could have let them be free in the wild."

"Believe me, if I could have I would have, but the fact is that there are people that would hunt them down no matter what, so I took it upon myself to protect them with my very flesh. As long as I live, no one will use Chomei, Son Goku, or Isobu like weapons." The sheer amount of venom she put into her words near the end shocked Kakashi, and Menma got up from her spot next to Mito. "I'll be going to my room. I need to rest and start the process of removing the last chakra dampener, so Kurama can talk to all of his brothers." No one asked her to stay, so she opened one of the doors and closed herself off for the night.

Sasuke elbowed Mito lightly, getting her attention. "I'm surprised you didn't ask how she knew how to make chakra chains. Usually you jump on chances like that."

"I know, but I was thinking. I didn't even realise she left until...well, now."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Menma always does the smart thing, whether or not we like it. She wanted to kill the Demon Brothers to make sure they didn't escape and come back after us, she went after Gato and somehow got his money so that the Land of Waves could use it to help rebuild, yet when the best course of action was to run, she stayed despite knowing how strong her enemy was compared to her...all because he hurt me. It doesn't make sense, you know?"

"Yeah...now that you mention it, it doesn't...I wonder what goes on in her head. _Besides _three-way conversations." he joked, getting her to lighten up a bit.

"Well, since we have to wait until the exam finishes before moving on, I'm going back to working on dad's jutsu."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow went up. "You're already working on the Rasengan?"

She gave a big grin. "Yeah! Dad started teaching me how to make one, and I'm at what he calls the 'second stage': popping a rubber ball with chakra! After today, I really need to figure this out!"

"Okay, I'll let you get to it then. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will!" She went to the room that she here-by claimed as her own, and realised that she forgot something. "I don't have any rubber balls...crap. Uh...okay, the first step was rotation...so maybe the third would combine one and two? I guess I can try...probably should make sure I don't break anything."

**-_four days later_-**

"It looks like we all passed." noted Sasuke upon making it to the main room with his two teammates.

"Indeed, I can sense all the rookies, that guy that asked for a duel with one of us...and that one team that Sasuke and I fought. The rest are...unknown." said Menma.

"The ones you don't know seem to be from...Suna, Kumo, and Kiri. All we're missing is a team from Iwa, and we'd have people from each of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, but they're probably never going to send anyone until Minato steps down as Hokage."

"Kiri? Does one have blue hair?"

"Uh, yes. He also has a giant sword on his back." He chuckled. "Looks like you have competition in that department."

"Oh shut up. Big swords mean longer reach, longer reach means less hits you will suffer from the enemy."

"But short swords are more flexible and much faster. They can get inside someone's guard, give a lethal strike, and be free to get the next opponent in a few seconds, unlike your slabs of metal."

"Guys! We don't need to debate which type of sword is better! They both have pros and cons, now get in line! Dad's waiting!" Mito ushered them both to the genin teams, where they stood in front of the teams senseis, the two previous proctors, the gate guards, Shikaku, and two others.

"...we're not done with this, Sasuke."

"Oh no we're not."

Minato took his place on the center stage, and all eyes were on him. "Hello, genin! As most of you probably know, I am Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and I congratulate you all in passing the second exam! You have worked hard to get here, but you all are going to need to work just a little bit more. Before I talk about the third portion, I need to tell you the true reason for the Chunin Exams so you know _why _we put you through this."

His daughter tilted her head. "I thought the exams were to test us for our aptitude as shinobi and kunoichi?"

"Indeed they are, don't get me wrong, but it's also a substitute...for _war_. For generations the countries we are now allied with fought each other for supremacy, to show that they are the best. When we were at peace, countries would send representatives to fight each other at mutually selected locations, and that is where the Chunin Exams first came from. Now, we use it as a way to measure our genin's strength, and by proxy the villages. During the third exam, people of prominence are welcomed into the host village, and they watch to see just how strong each country is. Depending on what they see, the villages either gain an increase in jobs and funding, or a decrease, which could be detrimental. Now that that's out of the way, the third-" Before he could continue, a man dressed in Konoha's official shinobi uniform appeared in front of him, effectively cutting him off.

"Lord Hokage, I don't mean to be rude, but since I'm to be the next proctor, I think it best if I told them of their...current circumstance." He broke out in a coughing fit afterward, a sign that he was not in the best of health.

"Of course, Hayate. I...kinda got ahead of myself." The almighty Hokage had a sheepish look, but took a step back so that the sickly man could have the spotlight.

"I am Hayate Gekko, the proctor of the third exam, but first...there is the issue of how many of you there are. There needs to be at most twelve of you, yet there are twenty-four, so we will be having random preliminary bouts. Is there any who would like to forfeit? Your team won't be forced to quit with you, so you can do what you want." No one raised their hand. "Uh...then we will be starting. These are anything goes sudden death matches. I will be the referee, and I have some leeway over the fights. If I think a fight is hopeless, I will cut in and end it. Killing _is_ allowed, but try to make the opponent unable to continue using non-lethal methods first." His coughing came back, causing Minato to frown.

'He's just getting worse...I hope Tsunade returns soon. She should be able to find out why he's so ill.'

"Uh...sorry about that. Could the board show us the first two combatants?" He turned around and spied names rotating, before settling down. "Kuro Kama no Menma vs. Rock Lee. Everyone else go up to the balconies."

Mito shook her head. "Did you _have_ to sign everything with that absurdly long name that no one really says?"

"Yes. I didn't want to make up a last name, so it's here to stay." In time, the girl covered in black, the spandex wonder, and Hayate were the only ones left on the ground. "I guess you get that fight like you wanted, Lee."

Fire seemed to explode his eyes as he started shaking a fist at her. "Yes! I finally get to test my flames of youth against such a youthful opponent!" All this did was make Menma pick at her ear.

"Hm? Say something?"

The flames seemed to be fanned. "Darn you and your hip ways! I will make you my eternal rival!"

"You're going to have to talk to Kiba about that, but I always need another rival. Come on, pure taijutsu!"

"YOSH!" They charged each other at breakneck speeds for genin, and their fists and legs collided in thunderous strikes that the watchers could feel just by looking at the fight. Eventually though, with her more unpredictable style, she was able to land a powerful, chakra fueled hit on his face, sending him tumbling, but he easily recovered, wiping the saliva that came out of his mouth.

"I know you're holding back! Don't you want to test yourself against me? How can you do that if you lock up your real strength! Show me the real you!"

"Lee! Do as she says, take 'em off! Show her your true power!" yelled Guy.

"Yes!" He went to his leg warmers and stripped them, showing a set of weights on his legs. He detached them and let them fall to the ground, causing them to sink heavily into the ground and shake the floor.

"H-holy shit...how much did those weigh?!" asked Menma.

"After I heard you fought Zabuza, I got Guy-sensei to increase the weights by five-pounds...so...eighty pounds each?" He disappeared from everyone else's eye, but she could still sense him...and it slightly worried her how fast he was.

'I think I made a horrible mistake...' A punch struck her in the cheek, sending her flying, but he outpaced her and hit her again, this time letting her hit the wall, causing her to get stuck in it. "Ow...I won't lie...that hurt…"

"I will make the same statement you gave me: I know you're holding back."

"Yeah...I am. I needed to see how much better you were without inhibitions before I decided to bring out my friend's power." Hot red chakra burst from her, and she pulled herself off the wall. "Three tailed mode, Yonbi. Get ready, 'cause I'm going to rock you!" She launched back into the fray with a knee strike, but despite her own increased speed Lee was able to successfully block it, grunting under the force of the attack. She clasped her hands together and brought them down on his head, but with his increased speed he was able to dodge, leaving her in the air. Menma safely landed on the ground, and sensed him coming from behind her. 'Not this time.' She turned just in time to catch his arm and she started squeezing with as much strength as she could so that he couldn't escape. "Sorry Lee, but this is going to hurt. Badly." She started to punch the taijutsu specialist repeatedly in the stomach with enough force to eventually force blood to escape from his mouth, and she finished her relentless punishment by kicking him in the face, sending him back to the ground. "That was a rather fun match. Let's fight again some-"

"N-no...I'm...not done yet!" The battered boy struggled to get up, and faced her again. "I...I won't give up!"

"Lee...you can't take much more. You need to stop."

"I...have to win! To prove myself, and to move on to the third exam!"

"I respect your determination, but if you won't give up, then I'll MAKE you!" She summoned the fourth tail, and Lee just wasn't able to guard against her in his weakened state, taking one last hit before being knocked unconscious. 'Phew...if I wasn't able to even access one tail of power...I would have lost.'

"Uh...winner: Menma." Said girl went up to her team, who was also right next to Lee's team.

"Sorry about Lee, but I needed to end the fight before he did something dangerous." she apologized to Guy.

"It was a good thing you did, because I think he was about to open the gates. I don't think even you could have beat him after that."

Kakashi glared at his friend. "You taught him how to open the Eight Gates?! Why would you teach him something so dangerous?!"

"Because he needed it. Kakashi, he can't use ninjutsu, or genjutsu, only taijutsu. He has something to prove, even if it means he dies, and has trained as hard as he possibly could to help attain that goal. As his sensei, I want to help him attain it, since it is one worth reaching."

"But you didn't need to teach him something that destroys his body as a consequence of using it."

Before Guy could refute, Hayate got their attention. "Second match: Chojuro vs. Omoi!"

'And I can't see if Chojuro is any good from this far away. Great.' thought Menma. She heard the combatants go down the steps and meet in the arena, and took a look at their chakras, finding something odd with Chojuro's. 'Why is there a small leak going into his sword? Is that part of it's special ability as one of the Seven Swords? Damn it, now this is going to bug me!'

Sasuke took a keen interest in this match. 'A fight between two swordsman...I wonder how good they are?' He watched as the two clashed with their weapons, and noticed that they both wielded their blades well, maybe even better than he could if he didn't have the Sharingan, and that the one with the bound up blade was better at kenjutsu than his opponent, but his movements were...forced. 'As if he doesn't want to fight...why? If he doesn't start taking this seriously, Omoi will eventually find the rhythm in his attacks and beat him!' Despite his thoughts, Omoi couldn't get through Chojuro's defence, and at some point the boy wearing glasses disarmed him and brought his sword's tip up to the dark skinned genin's throat.

"_(Huff, huff)_ Concede."

"Alright, I know when I'm in a bad position. If I don't, I could die by a simple flick of the wrist, or be heavily scarred and unable to continue being a shinobi."

"Winner by forfeit: Chojuro!" Said swordsman put his weapon back into it's holster and bowed to Omoi, thanked him for the match, and went back to his team on the other side of the room. The board behind the proctor chose it's next duo. "Sasuke Uchiha vs. Temari!"

"Looks like you will be bored for the rest of the day." said Mito, getting Sasuke to sigh.

"Yeah...why did I have to fight so close to the beginning?" He jumped over the railing and landed in front of the Suna-nin.

"An Uchiha...I hope you're as strong as the rumors say you are."

"I wouldn't say that...but I _was_ trained by two renowned shinobi, so I think they rubbed off me at some point." His eyes morphed to his two-tomoe Sharingan, and he put a hand on his tanto. "Ready when you are."

She in turn brought out her fan in all it's might, three purple circles showing. "This will be fun."

"Uh...fight!" Hayate was actually allowed to say his line this time, and he jumped back to watch so he didn't get hit.

"Sickle Weasel Jutsu!" called out Temari as she swung her fan, resulting in harsh, sharp winds to come at Sasuke, but thanks to his eyes and his speed, he avoided the dangerous technique...only for it to follow him.

'Oh shit!' He kept running from the jutsu, but as soon as it died out another was created, forcing him to continue being on the move. 'She's waiting for me to get caught up in the whirlwind...okay, so no sword for now. Good thing I know one of winds biggest weaknesses!' He waited until he, her attack, and her were in a straight line, and quickly formed the seals for his most destructive techniques. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The ball gobbled up the gale, increasing its strength, and it barreled toward the blonde, who hid behind her fan so the flames didn't burn her. As she stood back up, he charged with his blade in hand and slashed at her, but her fan was harder than it looked since it didn't cut through. Trying to use his moment of recoil, she closed up her weapon and swung it like a bat, only for him to barely duck in time thanks to his dojutsu. Their tools crossed, but he eventually gained the advantage due to his precognitive abilities, slicing her once across the face, a few times on her arms, and finally disarmed her much like Chojuro did during his fight. "I think I win."

"Not until I can't fight!" She tried to punch him, but he simply moved out of the way and chopped at her neck hard enough to knock her out.

"Winner by knockout: Sasuke Uchiha!" He went back up to his friends and sensei, and smirked.

"_That's_ how you knock someone out without terribly injuring them." he jibed at Menma.

"Unlike you, I only made sure Lee stayed alive. Battered, bruised...might have some internal bleeding, but he'll live. Sorry if I'm not as 'nice' as the rest of you."

"Hey, it was just a joke."

She smirked. "I know." There they waited, watching matches go by. One by one members of each team fought...well, not in Gaara's case. He absolutely _slaughtered_ and ultimately killed his opponent, who was from Chojuro's team. His blood was currently being cleaned up when the board chose from the pool of four left.

"Hinata and Neji Hyuga!"

"Oh no…" murmured Mito, getting Menma to turn in her direction.

"What? What's wrong with this matchup?"

"You know how the Hyuga are split up between the main and branch houses?" The other jinchuuriki nodded. "Well, Hinata is from the main house, and Neji, her cousin, is from the branch. I hear sometimes from dad that there is some infighting going on between the houses, and it might just spill out here. I hope I'm wrong..."

"So this match could symbolise the conflict in the clan...this will be interesting."

At the arena, the blue haired heir was slightly shaking in her boots, a fact that Neji didn't miss. "Give up, Hinata. You know you can't win against me, it's predetermined."

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Our lives have all been chosen for us, and we can not change what makes us. You, for example, are a _failure_. Ever since you started training, you couldn't match the prowess that your father hoped for, and when your baby sister was able to start training alongside you, she always beat you. _You_, the heir-apparent, the first born. You couldn't even beat _me_, a lousy branch member. Do you want to know why? It's because since the day you were born, you were destined to be a scared, hopeless girl, like how I, a genius in the clan, was born into servitude, to live out my life as a lesser member! Give up now, you know you want to."

Mito couldn't just sit there and listen to him say such slander to her friend. "Don't listen to him, Hinata! You trained hard to get here, you trained to make up for your faults! Show him what you've learned!"

"Yeah! Show him that what he spouts is nonsense! Beat him into the ground!" joined in Sasuke, and the words of encouragement found their way into her head, and she stopped shaking.

'Thank you...' "I won't run away. I may not be the best ninja material, but I can train to make myself better, like everyone else. Byakugan!" Veins bulged around her eyes as she activated her dojutsu, and she took the stance of her clan, the Gentle Fist style.

Neji, too, activated his Byakugan and took the same stance. "Then show me that we aren't bound to the whims of fate if you can, cousin!" Oh did she try. They collided in a fierce taijutsu battle, countering each others attacks and generally being on an even playing field until Hinata found out her strikes weren't doing anything, having her tenketsu closed by Neji. It was a downhill battle from then on, but she never stayed down no matter how hard he hit her.

"Y-you know...Neji...I think you're making yourself suffer...because you don't really believe that we have a predetermined fate…" she groaned out, clutching the arm that was hit most by her cousin's strikes while a little blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

"SHUT UP!" This time he was going to finish it. He prepared as much chakra into his index and middle finger as he could and rushed in to force her heart to burst...but someone wasn't going to let that happen. Before he could go anywhere, his hand was caught in a vice-grip. "Who dares?!"

"Me." His eyes widened, and he turned to see the blindfolded girl. "I was content with letting you win, but when I felt that her chakra was far too low to continue and that you charged up a lot in this hand, I knew what you were going to do."

"This doesn't concern you!"

"This doesn't concern me?! You were going to kill one of Mito and Sasuke's friends, and any of their friends are _my_ friends!" She tightened her grip, forcing the Hyuga to his knees. "Why would you kill her? Because she's of the main branch? You petty fool. I should crush you here and now, save all of Konoha the trouble...but I won't. Want to know why? Because you won here today...and either Sasuke, Mito, one of the other competitors, or even I will _destroy_ you in the third exam." She turned to Hayate. "Call the match!"

"Uh, right. Winner by interference: Neji Hyuga! Get Hinata medical attention!"

Menma released her hold on the boy, who swore that his hand was now broken. "Better hope we don't meet in the exams. I will not show any mercy...and it won't be pretty." She used a shunshin to return to the balcony as Neji decided to follow the medics so he could check his hand.

"Alright...the final match is between Mito Namikaze and Zaku Abumi!" Sasuke and Menma put a hand on their teammate's shoulders before she could jump off the balcony.

"Wait, we need to tell you about his abilities." said the Uchiha.

"Oh, right, you two fought him before...so what are they?"

"He can fire air at you with his arms. Even though I broke one with Kubikiribocho, be careful. He could have a trick up his sleeve, and I want you to make it to the finals with us." filled in Menma.

She smiled. "Don't worry, I'll win." She jumped down, and stared at the injured Oto-nin.

"Are you sure you want to fight in your condition?" asked Hayate to Zaku.

"I can still fight with one arm, hm."

"Then you may begin!" The black haired genin rushed in and tried a left hook, only to have Mito duck under and struck him in the side, sending him stumbling back, but she didn't give him anytime to breathe. Zaku couldn't get a hit in as the blonde hit him all over his face and body, finishing her relentless advance by giving him an uppercut that sent him into the air, jumping up, and kicked him back down, right on his broken arm.

"AAARRRGHHH!" he writhed in pain on the cold, hard floor as she landed, with pity in her eyes.

"I'm sorry...but I want to win." His screams of pain soon turned to chuckling, making her confused. "What's so funny? Are you secretly a masochist?"

"No...but I want to win as well, and there can't be two winners here!" He prepared chakra into his arm, and made it so that it was pure sound. "Decapitating Airwaves!" A loud screech similar to nails on a chalkboard resounded through the arena, and due to her proximity to the boy, Mito desperately held her ears, but it was so loud that it barely did anything. 'Time to reveal...my ace in the hole!' He forced his other arm out of its sling, and pointed it at her. Charging it with only air pressure, he said his most powerful jutsu. "Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!"

"**Kit, watch out!"** yelled Kurama, and it barely got through to Mito. Opening her eyes, having closed them to try to block out the noise, she saw the large mass of air coming at her, but it was too late. It hit her body and sent her to the wall, where she fell to the ground and slumped over.

"Heh, that was easier than I thought. All I did was hide one thing, and it turned out that I should have just used it at the beginning, hm. And I thought the _legendary Fourth Hokage's_ daughter would put up more of a fight, hm."

Back in Mito's head, the Kyuubi was doing everything in his power to get his container to get back into the fight...which meant he was screaming as hard as he could. "**You need to stand up!"**

'Ugh...trying...everything hurts at the moment...why did I never ask Menma for a spare pill bottle?'

"**I'll give you some of my power, it'll jump start all functions!"**

'No! I want to fight this battle without your chakra!'

"**But you can't! My chakra has been mixed with yours since the day you were born, so don't be an idiot and take the damn charka!"**

'Well...when you put it like _that_...' She allowed the power to flow through her, and she picked herself off the stone tiling. "That hurt, but unfortunately for you…" With her supercharged speed, she appeared behind Zaku, a fact that scared him. "...I won't let it happen twice." In panic, he swung at her, only for her to grab his arm, pull him in, and headbut him hard enough to force him to the ground. She jumped on top of him and punched him two times in the face, the last one consciously charged with chakra, and forced him to blackout. She got off him and rubbed her ear, but didn't stop the flow of Kurama's chakra just in case he was faking unconsciousness. "I think I need to get this checked out…"

"Uh...winner by knockout: Mito Namikaze!" No sooner than Hayate finished his statement, her teammates descended upon her.

"Are you hurt? How's your ears? Can you hear me alright?" pried Menma in a panicky tone, much to her amusement.

"I can hear you just fine, but I still have some ringing in my ears. Told you I would win, didn't I?"

"Grr...you idiot! Why did you wait so long in using his chakra?! You could have ended the fight long before he took the advantage! You're lucky he decided to stop and gloat instead of actually going in and finishing you off!"

"You're one to talk! You waited until _after_ Lee removed his weights to use the Yonbi's power, and he could have defeated you before that!"

"But my fight was different! I knew Lee didn't want to kill me, but Zaku...he comes from a different place. He tried to kill me in the forest, so what was going to stop him from doing so here? Hayate? He wouldn't have been fast enough to save you. Please, just be more cautious next time. I don't want you to die."

She blinked a few times at the rapid switch between scolding and worrying about her. "I...I'll try."

Sasuke decided to cut in to ease the tension. "Anyway, nice job! You turned that back around even after he showed his trump card. When I fought him, I had the luck of his arm really being broken, otherwise I don't know if I would have been able to defeat them as easily as I did."

"Thanks! I wonder how his arm healed so fast and completely, though…"

He simply shrugged. "One of them probably knew basic first aid and patched him up after our little fight, or maybe they got a medic-nin to heal him the day before the deadline. We never left our rooms after we got here, so we don't know when Dosu, Kin, and Zaku made it to the tower."

"Right…" All the teams joined them on the arena, and the proctor got their attention by coughing into his hand.

"The preliminaries are over. The final twelve have been chosen, and I have your first matches in the finals. First fight: Menma vs. Chojuro. Second: Gaara vs. Shino. Third: Sasuke vs. Shikamaru. Fourth: Kankuro vs. Neji. Fifth: Mito vs. Karui, and the sixth match will be Tenten vs. Dosu. The third exam will have the exact same rules as the prelims, and you'll have a month to train. When that time is up, meet at the stadium. Good bye." The crowd dispersed, but Menma stopped her team from leaving.

"Let's go to the infirmary before we head back to Konoha. I want to make sure I didn't accidentally kill Lee, and I'm sure Hinata wouldn't mind the people that cheered her on stopping by for a visit."

"That sounds like a good idea. Let's go, before they're moved to the hospital." Mito's normally cheery tone wasn't exactly there, something that didn't go unnoticed by them.

"What's wrong?" asked Sasuke.

"Nothing...just...thinking."

He immediately got the drift. "Oh. Well, if that's all, then let's hurry." They nodded and hurried to the medical bay, all the while Mito just couldn't wrap her head around the oddity that is Menma.

* * *

**A.N.: ****Deltahalo: Well, if you've read this chapter, I don't need to say it. I didn't want to make up another team _and_ I found out that I needed twelve competitors to make the finals less of a headache for me, so I brought them farther. And yes...the Akatsuki...especially since she alone has three that they need. **


	30. Chapter 30

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 30**

"Come on, Mito, you're almost there!" cheered Minato as he watched his daughter do her best to pop the ball like he'd shown her. The ball wiggled and squirmed, bulges protruded, but a small hole formed and all the air escaped. "That should have been it...or the two others…"

"I get it, I should have moved on to the next phase! I know!" She plopped down onto the grass and held her head in her hands.

'Something's distracting her...I need to know what.' He got closer and sat down with her. "What's wrong? It's been two days since we continued your training, yet it seems as if you're not as into it as you were."

"Nothing's really wrong, it's just I'm trying to figure my teammate out! Her behaviour has been bugging me, so I can't concentrate as well as I want."

"I'll take a gamble and say it's Menma?"

"_(Sigh)_ Yeah…"

"What's been troubling about her?"

"She tried to fight _Orochimaru_, dad, instead of running! And she admitted that it wasn't a good move, but she didn't care because he hurt me! I remember her saying in that forest 'I will not let a single person that hurts me live'...what does that mean, exactly?!"

"So her being a caring friend is bothering you?"

"No! Not at all! It's just...after my match, she fussed over me, making sure I was fine, then yelled at me for not ending the match, and went back to worrying about me."

"Mito, I think you're trying to read too much into it. Good friends do that sort of-"

"She kissed me!"

"...when and where? And you're telling me this _now_?!"

"It was when she was drunk. I didn't think it was that big a deal, some people do strange things when they're drunk, but now...after seeing how angry she was at Orochimaru for even touching me, her relentless worrying...I think there was something more to it."

The Hokage ran a hand through his spiky hair. "So what are you going to do? Just thinking about it will do nothing, and if this is going to put a damper on your training, you're going to need to get to the bottom of this."

"I know, but I don't want to confront her if I'm wrong, it'll only make things awkward. So...I guess that leaves getting information out of Fu. She knows more about how...she works, I guess."

He nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good plan. Training is done for the day, just figure this out. I don't like it when you look so confused about things."

"Thank you, dad, and I will." She gave him a hug and they went back into their house, where she waited for the mint haired ball of energy to come back from her usually intense training.

**-_a few hours later_-**

Mito stood in front of Fu's room, where the other girl was resting after being forced to do Menma's regimen, which no sane person besides maybe Lee and Guy would do willingly, but it had results. The blonde took a breath, opened the door and entered. "Hey, Fu."

"Heeeey." she returned the greeting while sprawled out on her bed, which now was a green monstrosity due to her liking the color so much. Fu wasn't the same as when she first arrived, her body now had toned muscles where before she had none, all thanks to the extreme workouts. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Uh...to put it simply, Menma."

The former jinchuuriki sat straight up hearing that. "What about her?"

"You know some things about her that me and Sasuke don't...and I was wondering...do you know what she..._likes_?"

She put a finger to her lips. "Well...she likes ramen quite a bit...simple colors like black and white...uh... fuinjutsu, if her constant use of it during my training is any indication..."

"No! That's not what I meant!"

"It's not? Than...oh. Oooh. You mean like 'boys or girls', don't you?" Mito nodded. "Why do you want to know? Wait...she made a move on you, didn't she? Goddammit, I knew she was lying to me!"

"...huh?"

"Oh...right...you never come to our sessions. Whenever she lets me take a break, sometimes I'll try to see if she has eyes for you, since she treats you more nicely than me or Sasuke, but she always deflects the question, saying she has no time to find someone. So...what did she do to cause you to come ask me about her preference?"

"A...few things actually." She proceeded to repeat her evidence, and at the end the freeloader's eyes widened.

"No wonder you wanted to know…but yes, I do think she is a lesbian. When we were traveling from town to town after making our escape, I would randomly catch her staring at girls our age or at older women, like around fourteen or so. Whenever I asked her why them instead of the plenty of cute boys, she would say that men just didn't look good to her."

"So...you think…?"

"Yes. Come on, all of what you said points to her having a thing for you!"

"I guess…thank you for your help."

Fu pouted. "Aw...you don't want to talk about this anymore?"

"I...need to think about this new information. See you at dinner, Fu. Take it easy so that you don't agitate your bruises."

"Waaay ahead of you. Damn slave driver of a sister…" Mito snickered, and left her friend alone in her room.

'So Fu thinks Menma has a crush on me...that has to count for something, when one of her closest friends think that...what do you think?' She asked Kurama.

"**Why are you asking me?! I don't want any part of this crap!"**

'Because you're better at reading people than me, and if you don't help me, you're going to be subjected to more thoughts than you'd like to.'

"**...fuck you...but fine! I think that Fu is right, since, strangely, I can't feel a lick of negative emotions directed at you from Menma."**

'Not a thing?'

"No, nothing. Not even when she was yelling at you because of your match, and that would mean she wasn't really angry with you, only concerned. Also, haven't you noticed how when you say something stupid, she smiles or laughs, but when Fu, for example, does it, she smacks her over the head or pinches the bridge of her nose?"

'So everything _does_ point to her liking me...what should I do?'

"**Ask your parents. You need to tell them what you've found out anyway, might as well get advice from them too. Now, I'm going to go back to taking my nap. Don't think too hard, please."** And the fox was gone, leaving her mind her own. Deciding to follow Kurama's advice, she went downstairs to the living room, her parents last known location…

"So there's no problem with this?" an all-too familiar voice asked, and when she peeked over the door frame, she spotted the one person she didn't really want to see at this point in time sitting across from her mom and dad.

"Nope." responded her father. Mito stepped in and made herself known.

"H-hey Menma. What are you doing here?"

"Just getting the Hokage's approval."

Her mind started going a million miles a minute, something that her tenant wasn't happy with. 'Please don't be what I think it is, please don't be what I think it is...' "For what?"

"To go on a trip, of course."

'Phew...' "To where?"

"The Land of Rivers. I want to follow up on a lead, and it _might_ guarantee that I make it to the final round. I need all the advantages I can get, since at this point my body can't improve too much in a month."

She had to laugh at that. "_You _need an advantage? I don't think you can lose to anyone in the exams, not even to that Gaara guy!"

"Maybe...but you are wrong about one thing: there is one person that I'd lose to."

"Oh? And who's that?"

"You." No hesitation, no doubt. It was a fact in the black haired girl's mind, and Mito couldn't understand why she thought that.

"What?! You would _slaughter_ me in a fight, with or without me using fuzzball's chakra!"

"Yes, that's true, but I don't want to fight you. I'd just forfeit, I would hate myself if I caused you any harm, even if it is just a friendly spar. Anyway...which direction is the Land of Rivers?"

"Uh...it's southwest of Konoha." answered Minato, and Menma stood up.

"Thank you. After I tell Haruka, I'll be off. See you in a few days, Mito. Good luck with your training." She vanished into thin air, like a ghost, and Mito took her spot.

"Oh man…"

"So what did you find out?" asked her genius dad.

"It turns out that both Fu _and_ fuzzball think she likes me, and it would explain a lot..."

"So maybe _that's_ what she meant when she told me you were far too important to her to lose…" commented Kushina, getting her daughter to look at her.

"She said that?"

"Yeah, and it confused me at the time, since why would she hold you in higher regard than Sasuke when she knew you both for an equal amount of time? But throw in a crush, and it makes sense."

"So what should I do?"

"I'm not sure, but I think the first step is figuring out yourself before going on ahead."

"...I'm lost."

"What I mean is...what do _you_ feel towards her?"

"Oh. Uh...I...don't know?"

The redhead put a hand on her chin. "That doesn't help at all...no strange feelings?"

"I don't think so...but I was afraid that she was going to die in the Forest of Death after fighting Orochimaru. I checked every inch to make sure she was okay, and I didn't want to lose her...but friends think those things, right?"

"They do. So you don't want anything more than friendship with her?"

"I...don't know! She doesn't look bad, she's so kind to me on a daily basis, and she always risks her life to make sure I'm fine…"

"Hm...then maybe you need to find out."

Mito tilted her head. "How?"

"Since you didn't fall for her like I did with your father, you're going to have to do the normal thing...ask her out on a date!"

"What?!"

The Yellow Flash nodded. "Yes...that would set everything straight. You could find out from the source if she really _does_ like you, and find out if maybe you feel the same. If neither is true, then nothing is lost."

"You...you would be fine if I dated a girl?"

"Of course. As long as they treat you well and you're happy being with that person, we won't care about their gender. If you fall for someone of the same gender, we won't judge you, but accept and encourage you to go after them. It would be the same if you fell for a man."

"I...I don't know what to say...so I'll just say thank you for your help with..._this_."

Her mother smiled. "That's our job, Mito. To help you with _anything_."

Mito smiled back. "I know. Well, I'm going to hang out with Sasuke and maybe even Fu until dinner."

"You go do that, and tomorrow we'll continue with training. Since you don't have to worry about Menma until she comes back, you can now focus on it, right?" asked Minato, getting a nod from her.

"Yeah!" She left the room and her parents with that.

"You know...I kinda hope this works out." commented the Uzumaki.

"Why?"

"You don't see it? This entire situation is like ours way back when. Menma is you, and Mito is me."

"I see what you're getting at...Menma singlehandedly saved Mito, the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, from someone who wanted to take her away from her home, albeit in a different way, and that's what I did. I was the only one to figure out that you were putting down strands of your hair, and I alone came to your rescue."

"Exactly! It seems too perfect to be a coincidence. History must want to repeat itself." She snuggled up to her husband, who took and returned the action with a smile.

"We don't know about that. For all we know, Menma is just a very concerned friend."

"_(Sigh)_ She could be. The only way to know for sure is to wait for her to come back and for Mito to ask. Let's find something to watch, there's nothing more we can do for Mito today, and we have a lot of time to kill before dinner." Minato grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, where they settled on a comedy, and enjoyed their time alone together.

* * *

**A.N.: Yes, this chapter is far shorter than the ones I've been writing. I just couldn't write five-thousand+ words for this kind of thing. **


	31. Chapter 31

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 31**

It was a beautiful day in Konoha. The sun was shining, there was not a cloud in the sky, and all the plants seemed to be at their brightest, but it may as well have been raining too young Mito, with how much she payed attention to it while pacing in her room. 'It's been over a week since Menma left. Dad said that a round trip would be around two or three days, and with her speed and chakra, that should be shortened, right? She can appear from a shunshin and just disappear to the other side of Konoha in a second, so what happened? Did she get attacked by someone? Possibly, but she should have been able to handle it...'

"**By my father, STOP PACING AND WORRYING! You're driving me mad!"** suddenly shouted Kurama from his seal, making the girl wince and stop in her tracks.

'Sorry...I'm just-'

"**Worried? Yes, I can tell with how many times you keep thinking those exact things! Seriously, what's wrong with you? You've never been this way before."**

'Well pardon me for wondering if my friend is alive or not!'

The fox sighed. "**Look, Menma won't die out there. She has Chomei, Son Goku, and Isobu by her side at all times, and can use all seven tails if she needs them. She's going to come back, and you **_**will**_ **find out what her deal is, but you are just going to need to calm. The fuck. **_**Down.**_ **Take a breath." **His jinchuuriki did as ordered. "**Feel a little better?"**

'Yeah...thanks. I needed someone to snap me out of that. Out of everyone, Menma doesn't need anyone worrying about her, she could kill nearly anyone if it comes down to it.'

"**Exactly. Your father is working at the moment, right? Go hang out with your mother, relax, maybe even try to learn how to make her special explosive tags that scratched one of the Sannin."**

'I'll do that.' She left the confines of the bedroom, and found Kushina in the dining room writing in a journal. On closer inspection, it was filled to the brim with kanji, none with imperfections. She took the spot next to the redhead. "Whatcha' doing?"

"Just making sure my calligraphy doesn't degrade. Got to make sure I don't get rusty."

"But you always make tags and other seals for me, how would you get rusty?"

"You make a good point, but I also do it to remember my clan, my family that didn't make it to Konoha." She closed the book and pushed it away. "So, you came down here to spend some time with me?"

Mito grinned. "Yep!"

"I'm glad to hear that. What do you want to do?"

"Can you teach me some of the more advanced stuff in fuinjutsu, like how to write an explosive tag? All I know is how to seal things into scrolls, I'm not even at Anza's level when we were nine!"

"I can do that." She left the room for a minute and came back with a stack of paper, two brushes, and a jar of ink. "Okay, I'll show you how an explosive seal is made, and then I'll let you try." Taking one off the stack, she proceeded to write the rather complicated looking sequences, slowing down heavily so her daughter could see the the strokes of the brush. "See? Not that hard when you get used to it. Your turn. Don't put any chakra into it, this is just to get the nuances and letters correct."

"Right…" The blonde reached over, grabbed her own paper and brush, and started trying to mimic the completed one next to her. 'How hard could this be, anyway?'

**-_an hour later_-**

"I never knew someone could fail at writing one thing so much until this day…" Mito balled up her one-hundredth failure, and threw it over her shoulder. "How can _anyone_ get this right?!"

"It takes a lot of practice and patience. You haven't really tried to learn fuinjutsu until rather recently, so it'll be awhile before you're good at it."

"I'm still trying to figure out how Anza was able to sit through failure after failure, and not even ask for help."

"Out of the two of you, she was the most patient, remember? And she had the Sharingan, so she was able to rapidly adjust and perfect nearly anything she wrote if she knew what it was suppose to look like. Mix that in with the natural talent in the art that we Uzumaki are known for, and you see how it was easy for her to advance into the higher parts in it."

"Wish I had some of that natural talent…"

"Give it some time. Not everyone can write an explosive tag with nearly no practice, but you're doing really well."

"But I can't write those strange scribbles. Don't they have to be perfect in order for the special properties to take effect?"

"Yes. This is the reason why not many use fuinjutsu, everything has to be just right, otherwise it will fail. Do you still want to practice making this, or do you think you're done for the day?"

Mito's eyes narrowed to a point. "I'm going to need more paper. I won't let this beat me!"

"That's what I like to hear!" Before the woman could go get another stack, the front door opened, and their very tan guest walked past them, going into the kitchen.

"Fu? You actually went somewhere?"

"Yeah, I went to train, like I do almost everyday!"

"But couldn't you take a break since Menma isn't here?"

The amber eyed girl came back, with a bottle of water in hand. "I could, but I want to be strong. When we escaped, she protected me from everything. Wild animals, other people, you name it. That's why she wanted me to come with her to the island, so she could keep me safe and maybe train me, but I didn't want that life. I didn't want to fight or kill others, so I said no. I knew that there were people coming after us, but like an idiot I thought nothing would happen. I was lucky Menma turned up when she did, or else I'd be dead. I _need_ to keep training, so I can handle something like that again, and relieve her of the constant need to watch over me."

"It's good you want to grow stronger of your own accord, and not just because Menma is forcing you too. You wouldn't improve otherwise." commented Kushina.

"Yeah...I wonder what she's doing right now?"

"I would say she's on her way back, since she's still not here. I'm sure there is nothing to worry about, she's a strong girl."

"Oh, I'm not worried. If anything, I worry for anyone that decides to get in the way of her search. Anyway, I'm probably wasting your time. I'm gonna go watch some TV, I think I deserve it after doing one hundred sit ups and nearly breaking my hand on a tree." She left the mother and daughter to their own devices.

Mito picked the brush back up. "Okay, back to the grinder...but can I take these with me later?"

"Sure, but where are you going to go?"

"Just the gates. I want to ask Menma about...well, you know, as soon as possible, and the best time would be right when she returns."

"I guess I see the logic in that. Go ahead, but don't stay out there for too long. You still have Rasengan training to go through with your dad."

"I know, I know." She went back to trying to write an explosive tag for another hour at home before grabbing a few sheets, the ink, and her brush, and hopped over to the main gate.

"Oh, hey Mito! Did the Hokage send you to check on us?" asked Izumo, who was back to guarding the gates with Kotetsu.

"Not today, I came to wait for Menma. She should be coming back any day now, and there's something I need to ask her."

"Menma, Menma...oh, right! The scary, usually silent one. Said she had clearance to go to the Land of Rivers, and left before I could run it through the system."

"That sounds like her...well, I'm going to sit down. Let me know when you see her."

"Will do." The blonde went into the shade created by the large green gates, and went back to writing.

* * *

"**I don't think she's coming today, kit. You should go home, it's almost time for your father to return from the talks."**

'Yeah...at least I got a little farther in making a tag. Going to need to make a lot if I want to continuously make ones that work.' She started packing up, and in the commotion didn't notice someone dressed in white and a wide, four pointed straw hat walk up to the guards.

"Halt! State your business!" shouted the more serious one.

"Returning."

"Ah, Menma. Wow, I didn't recognize you in that new getup. You kind of look like a miniature version of the Hokage."

"Thanks, I tried. I'm clear to come back in, correct?"

"Yeah, just let me see your ninja registration number so I can write down that your trip is complete." The now white-clad jinchuuriki handed her card over, and he jotted it down. "You know, Mito's been waiting here for awhile."

"Why?"

"Something about needing to ask you something. It must be important if she was willing to wait hours for you."

"Indeed…" Suddenly, something hit her in the back of the head, knocking the hat off. "Ow! Okay, who the _fuck_ punched me?!"

"Who do you think?!" The blind girl turned hearing the familiar voice.

"Well hello to you too, Mito. What did I do to deserve a punch? Did I do something to anger you before I left?"

"No, it's the fact that you took almost two weeks to return! I was worried!"

"_(Sigh)_ Look, if you're going to do this, let me pick up my hat and let's go somewhere else. Kotetsu and Izumo probably don't want to hear whatever you need to say."

"Oh no, go on. Today's been boring, we wouldn't mind if you talked." said the bandaged chunin.

"...fine." The two teammates left their superiors behind, and simply walked the streets of Konoha. "What happened out there? You should have came back a long time ago."

"It turns out there was a _very_ good reason they call it the Land of Rivers. Nearly the entire country was covered in them, and I had to search a whole bunch of them. I lost count at twenty."

"Your advantage was in the rivers?"

"Yes, and don't think I'll be telling you. I have to keep it a secret, or someone might find a way to combat it."

"Oh. Uh...I assume that because of your dives, you had to change your clothes?"

"Yeah. They got soaked, and some of the rivers were not the cleanest, so I decided that I should get a new outfit. So...how do I look?"

Mito stopped and finally got a good look at her. Menma was wearing a high-collared, short sleeved white haori quite similar to her father's minus the flames, a seemingly sleeveless white shirt, since there was nothing past the sleeves of her coat, matching pants and sandals. The only thing that remained from her past get-up was the grey band covering her eyes, suggesting she stored it in a seal before going into the water. "I-it looks good on you."

"Thanks. Besides Haruka, you are really the only one that I care about for opinions concerning dress."

"**And another check…"** joked the Kyuubi.

'Not now!'

"So what is the all important question that couldn't possibly wait until tomorrow, after I rested after my long, pretty strenuous journey?" asked Menma, getting Mito to stop thinking about the biju stuck inside her.

"O-oh...w-well...might as well get to the point...would you like to go someplace for a quick bite to eat?"

"...why do I get the feeling that's entirely what you wanted to ask?"

"It's not…"

Menma raised an eyebrow, but didn't pry. "Okay then, where do you want to go?"

The Hokage's daughter held her chin. "Hm...there's a place that Choji likes to go, and I heard that all of his team likes it too, so how about that?"

"Sure." The teammates set out for the restaurant, Yakiniku Q, and got a seat closer to the back.

"It...looks like the menus are on the walls...uh, I think I'm going to try their staple, salted beef tongue."

"I guess I'll do the same, since I have no clue what's on the menu, and I'm not hungry enough to care about what I eat."

"Strange way to choose something to eat, but okay…" The waiter came by, took their orders, and delivered the food. Food that they had to cook themselves, but that mattered little to them.

"Okay Mito, what do you want to know? You brought me out here, you waited at the gate for who-knows-how long, all just for a simple question."

Her face started to gain a pale shade of red, and for once she was glad that her friend was blind. "It's not as simple as you think, Menma...what do you think of me?"

"That's it? You're kind, you think of others before yourself, you have potential I don't have, and you don't give up no matter what. You're someone I wish I could be like, but I've been corrupted by the darkness of the world, so that's impossible. Is that what you were expecting?"

"Thank you for the compliments...but I phrased it wrong, so I didn't get the answer."

"Then what? Please, be clear with me."

Mito flipped one of the cooking tongues over and propped her head onto her free hand. "You've been confusing lately. You're usually so smart, always doing the wise things, but when Orochimaru attacked, you didn't run when it would have been safer for us both. Instead, you tell _me_ to run, say you won't a single person that hurts me live, and fought him to the point that you couldn't move, risking your chance to make it to the third exam. Then, after my match, you kept switching between being worried and angry at me, but fuzzball said it wasn't directed at _me_. And later, I learn from mom that you said something along the lines of 'I'm too important to you', saying absolutely nothing about Sasuke."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I want to know if...if you _like_ me."

Menma put everything together. "Oh. _Oh_. This...is a date?!"

"Yeah…"

'Chomei, Son, Isobu, I think I'm going to need help with this!' No response from any of them. 'Hello? Anyone there?' Still nothing. '...the bastards abandoned me! Okay, I can handle this...' "Did Fu put you up to this?"

"No, but I did get some information about you from her. Namely, how you used to stare at girls."

"Great…" She flipped her own food, and ate it in one bite. "I don't know how to phrase this…"

"Just give me your honest answer."

"Fine. I want to protect you from anything, even though I know that you can protect yourself. I want to keep you away from the shadows of life and take on all your burdens by myself, even though I know I can't. I want to hold you tight and never let go. You hold a special place in my heart, one that isn't even held by Fu or Haruka. If that means that I 'like' you, than so be it."

Mito and Kurama blinked at her answer. "**Yep, she's attracted to you. What are you going to do now?"**

'I...don't know.' She must have silent for a long time, since Menma's mouth twitched into a slight frown.

"I see...that wasn't what you wanted. I'm sorry if you're uncomfortable now, I'll just pay for the meal and go." The abysmal haired girl made a move to stand, but was stopped.

"No! Please, stay." Reluctantly, she stayed put. "If you liked me, why didn't you just say so?"

"Because we shouldn't worry about these things. We're genin fighting in the Chunin Exams, and we're twelve. Romance is something that really shouldn't fit into our lives until later."

"But any day one of us could die out on a mission. We're not civilians, Menma. We're kunoichi, we need to find that one special person in our lives before it all ends."

Menma gave a small smile. "You can be quite philosophical when you want to be, and you're right, but don't you think that we are maybe just a little too young for those kind of things?"

"My parents became a couple around our age, so no, not really."

"Interesting...let's finish up here, the coals are probably running cold." They ate the remaining tongues, and Menma payed for everything despite Mito's wishes. "You know...I had a good time, even though you put me on the spot in there. I...I wouldn't mind doing this again." she said to her date upon getting back outside.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you want to see if this goes anywhere, I'm game."

"Sure. I kinda like spending time with you, without any else with us."

"Well, our date is done. Do you want me to walk with you home, or do you want to come with me and visit little Haruka?"

"Why not both? I think Fu would like to know that you're back home, and I like seeing the little devil." The bandaged jinchuuriki nodded at her answer, and they journeyed to the orphanage, where a horde of excited Uchiha swarmed them, pulling the duo into games that they enjoyed.

**-_later, Namikaze Residence_-**

"So...where's Mito? I haven't seen her since I came back from training with Kakashi-sensei." asked Sasuke to the people he considered his adoptive parents.

"That's a good question. Dear, where is she? By now she should doing her daily training session with me." said Minato.

"All I know is that she went to the gate to see if Menma was returning from her trip today. She's been gone for a few hours, and I don't know where she is now." answered Kushina.

"Wait, I can feel her marker...she should be coming in right about..." The door opened, and from their spot in the living room they could see the girl. "Now." His daughter walked in, and sat down next to Sasuke while a white object jumped up the stairs, away from sight. "Mito...what was that?"

"That was Menma. She's back."

Her mother leaned in. "If she's back, that means you asked her. How'd it go?"

A blush formed on her face. "W-well...we're kinda...maybe...dating. We still need some time to see if anything's there, but she does _really_ like me."

The Uchiha waved his hands. "Woah woah woah. Slow down, what did I miss?! You two are dating?"

"Technically, yes."

Sasuke gained his own proverbial raincloud as he hung his head."...damn, I thought I might have had a chance with one of you…"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "There still is plenty of fish in the sea, you'll find someone eventually...just not us." Like she always does, Menma appeared in front of them all by shunshin.

"Well, I told Fu I'm back, and that the schedule is going back to normal. I'll be taking my leave."

Mito frowned. "Already?"

"Yes. I'm tired, and I need to sleep. Before you ask, no, I will not sleep here. The only way that's happening again is if you hunt my unconscious body down and drag me here. See you two later." She vanished again.

"...she has good tastes." commented the Hokage.

"Because she wears a haori like yours?" asked the Uzumaki.

"...yes." The family laughed at his lame answer, and after a while Minato took Mito back outside so she could continue her training.

* * *

**A.N.: This marks the point that I left off on the 'original', so from here on out it will be things that I _haven't_ covered yet. I'm going to build up this new development for a chapter or two before going onto the finals. Can't just let it build completely off-screen, now can we? **


	32. Chapter 32

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 32**

"You're going to need to try harder than that to get through my defence, Fu." said Menma to her downed 'student' after hitting her in the head during their spar.

The girl with mint green locks jumped back up, seemingly not feeling the blow, and retook her personal stance. "I almost had you that time!"

"Do you think you can continue?"

"Hell yes!" She charged forward and tried a jab, but it was blocked by the genin in white. She didn't wait for her to retaliate, striking with her free arm, only to have that grabbed, too. Forced to use her legs, Fu made an attempt to hit Menma with her knee, which she couldn't block effectively without her arms, so she let go and jumped back. The former holder of Chomei saw an opportunity, and rushed into the offence while her trainer was landing, but of course she was too slow, all her attacks being deflected like they were paper-weights. Eventually, Menma sped up, and got a kick to land on Fu's arm, sending her back to the ground.

"Power's good...coordination is good enough...only thing really lacking is speed. I know what we're working on next. We can take a twenty-minute break, we've been fighting for...I don't know, I lost track of time."

"Uh...I think it's almost one."

"Check the watch, the sun is rather unreliable under a sea of trees."

Fu went to her bag and fished out the watch that Menma decided to buy for her a few days after they started these sessions. "Yep, ten minutes to one."

"Then I guess we can call it a day." She went to one of the trees, and sat down on her spotless haori, letting a small sigh escape her lips.

"Are you okay?"

"Kind of. Just...thinking."

A evil grin spread across Fu's face. "About Mito?"

"Yeah." No smile, just scrunched up eyebrows.

"You...don't seem happy."

"Hm? Oh, because I'm not smiling, huh? Make no mistake, just because I don't show it, doesn't mean I'm not happy with where we stand."

"Then why do you seem so sour?"

"Because I've never been in a relationship before, I have no idea what I should be doing or not doing. I don't have anything to go on, no examples, nothing! I'm completely out of my element here, and I don't like it. I want to make her happy, but I don't know how to do that, not really."

"And you think I do?"

"No. You asked, I answered. Why are you still here?"

"Because you literally just said training was over a few minutes ago, and you seemed down, even after punching me a few times! That always puts you in a good mood!"

"...was that suppose to be a joke?"

"...would you believe me if I said no?"

"No. You suck at jokes, like me, but if I told you to not tell them, you would do it more. I can't let such a horrible thing be unleashed upon Konoha."

Fu gained back her grin. "You know me so well!"

"Heeeey! Menma, Fu!" A voice said from above, and when the amber-eyed girl looked up, she saw the person they were just talking about.

"Mito? What are you doing here? If you wanted to train with us, you should have come earlier. It's done now."

The blonde jumped down from the branch. "Am I not allowed to see my girlfriend?"

Menma started sputtering. "G-g-girlfriend? D-don't say those things so lightly…"

"But isn't it true? We've been dating for a week now, and neither has ended it, so I think I can call you that."

"A week...has it really been a week?"

"_(Sigh) _Yeah. The finals are almost here, and we'll be forced to fight each other…"

Even without a way to sense negative emotions, the dark haired kunoichi could tell that Mito didn't like that fact, so she stood back up and went over to place a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, did you already forget? I'm not fighting you, I'd sooner give up, and I'd do it with a smile on my face. I don't care if it would have been nothing more than a spar, I don't like coming to blows with you. I hated it when Kakashi-sensei made us do so, and it remains that way now. All you need to worry about is your fight with Sasuke, since I'm sure he'll make it to the very end, just like you."

She cheered up hearing that. "I did forget that...and that was one of the things that brought us together!"

Menma couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Sometimes you can be such a ditz, you know that?"

"I can't help it!"

Fu had a _great_ idea. "...aaand kiss!" This got the desired results of embarrassing her sister, causing her to take her hand back and her cheeks to redden.

"F-Fu!"

"What? It was the perfect moment!"

"**It kinda was…"** voiced Chomei.

"**I don't usually agree with my happy-go-lucky brother, but I will in this instance."** said Son Goku.

'Oh, _now_ you guys talk to me concerning this...thanks.' she sarcastically spat.

"**Hey, we knew you could handle it!"**

She pinched her nose and sighed. "Okay, we got _very_ off track. Mito, I know there was another reason you came here besides just wanting to see me."

Kurama's jinchuuriki rubbed the back of her head. "You can read me like a book, can't you?"

"...I can't read."

"Way to kill the joke...anyway, I wanted to know if you would like to come somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

"Come with me and find out."

"...you have me intrigued. Okay, I'll go. Fu…"

"I'm going home, don't worry! I know when it's best to leave people alone."

"Thank you." All three parted ways, with Menma following Mito to wherever she was taking her.

* * *

"_(Sniff, sniff)_...why do I smell a lot of flowers? Where are we?"

"We're at Yamanaka Flowers!"

"...why?"

"Before we go to our actual destination, I need to grab a few things, this place having one of them." Mito walked into the establishment, looking at all the beautiful roses, lilies, and other plants as she approached the front desk, with a very bored looking Ino behind it.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers, how may I help you today?" she said in a monotone voice, eyes closed as if business was slow.

"Hello Ino, how's your day been going?"

The other blonde's eyes snapped open and she picked herself up. "Oh hey, Mito! Today has been slow, even though the exams are almost ready to continue. No one really wants flowers at the moment."

"Sorry to hear that, but hopefully I can help." Menma decided to enter at that point, not really wanting the sun to beat down on her pitch black hair.

"Menma? You came to buy something as well?"

"No, I came here with Mito. We're going to...someplace, but I guess that place requires flowers."

Ino's eyes widened. "It's time already? And you didn't bring Sasuke?" she asked to the Hokage's daughter.

"I haven't brought Menma there before, and I want it to be just me and her. Sasuke already picked and placed his own flower before we entered the Chunin Exams. He's away training with Kakashi-sensei anyway, and won't be back until sensei decides to let him go."

"Oh, that makes sense. You two on a date, I take it?"

"I have no clue, but I think so." commented the holder of three biju.

"I was just joking! So you two are…?"

Mito nodded. "Yep!"

"I...didn't expect that to happen."

"Me neither, but it just...did. So, I can buy something, right?"

The Yamanaka heiress shook herself back into being serious. "Right, you came here for a reason. Yes, we're still open. Same as last time?"

"Please." Ino left her spot behind the register, and went to where the roses were stationed, picking around twenty white ones. She came back, made them into a bouquet, and handed the flowers to the Namikaze.

"That will be two-hundred ryo."

Mito handed the bouquet to Menma. "Could you please put those in one of your seals?"

"Uh...sure." The roses went up in smoke.

"Thanks!" She brought out her uniquely frog-shaped wallet, and got the amount of money needed. "Take care, Ino. See you around."

"Have a nice day!" They exited the store with the purchase.

"So where else, or do we go onto our destination?" asked Menma.

"Just one: the store. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, so why not bring food to eat while we're there?"

"So...basically this is going to be a picnic?"

"Now that you mention it...yeah!"

"Then let's get going."

**-_a few minutes of shopping and travel later_-**

The teammates stood in front of a singular slab of stone covered in decaying flowers, showing that people came here and laid them there regularly. There were violets, sunflowers, white roses like they just picked up, and a lone red rose. "Mito...what is this?"

"A gravestone." The blonde went up to it and placed the freshly bought bouquet next to the old one. "Hey, Anza. I'm back to tell you about how my life is going since I last came here. I made it to the Chunin Exams! How great is that? Well...it sucked when Orochimaru attacked, but everything got better when Menma, dad, and the Mizukage saved me. Oh, yeah, the girl behind me that dresses a little like dad? That's Menma. She's the one that I've told you about a few times. She may look a little rugged, but she has a kind heart, even though she will happily kill every enemy she comes across. And you wouldn't believe it, but me and her are dating! I know you would like her, she has similar tastes to you, after all!" A giggle escaped from her mouth, before she started staring at the ground with a sullen look. "I wish you were here right now, participating in the exams with us. I know you would win it all, you were always the best compared to me or Sasuke, but to see you laugh, to smile, to stand at our sides again…" Tears started making there way down her cheeks, but she made no move to stop them, and her voice started becoming shaky. "Everyone still misses you. You're death is still fresh in our minds, despite it having been three years. You...would probably tell us to suck it up and move on, that's just who you are, and we have, but it's hard trying to forget the uselessness I felt when that cliff gave way and took you away from us. I still sometimes see your eyes when I try to sleep, a reminder of your last moments…"

Menma couldn't take it anymore. 'Those are not happy tears...I have to do something!' She put down the basket that held their lunch, walked up behind her, and wrapped her arms around her waist, surprising the other girl.

"Menma?"

"It wasn't your fault. Anza's death wasn't your fault, stop thinking that if you did something different, she would still be here. What happened...happened, and there's nothing we can do to change the past."

"I know...but I miss her so bad...we were the best of friends, she always made time for me, helped me whenever I asked, and I couldn't help her when she needed it most…"

"Don't you think I miss what I had with my family? Before everything was shown to be a lie? I do, terribly, but I moved on. Thinking about what 'could have been' won't do you any good, believe me. Please...don't be sad. I order you to be happy while on this picnic."

Mito let a smile grow from her lips. "You're not higher ranked than me."

"No I'm not, but I think you can ignore that given that I'm your g-girlfriend."

"I thought you didn't like that word?"

"What you said earlier was true. We've been dating for a week now, if we can't call each other that, than there really is no reason to continue. Now, let's enjoy our lunch, and you can tell me of the good times you had with your twin."

"I would like that." Menma released her hold on Mito, and they walked back to the basket, where they ate and talked away the day. Before they knew it, the sun was setting. The Namikaze looked at the lovely pink sky. "It looks like it's going to be a wonderful sunset…"

"Do you want to see it?"

"Yeah, but I really should be going home...we've been out here too long."

"Screw what they think, just send a Kage Bunshin telling where you are and who you're with. If you want to see the sunset, I think I know the perfect place to do so."

Reluctantly, she created one and sent it to her parents. "Okay, so where would this 'perfect' place be?"

"Come with me and find out."

She rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny. Lead the way." The abysmal haired girl nodded, put the now empty basket back into a seal, and started running as fast as she could, Mito hot on her heels.

* * *

"The Hokage Monument? Why didn't I think of that?" she said as they stood at the base of the great mountain.

"Because somethings just go over your head."

Mito forced a pout. "Hey!"

"Come on, pick a head. The sun doesn't stay in the sky here forever." Naturally, she chose to sit on her father's statue, and Menma sat next to her as she watched the celestial object slowly descend into the horizon, changing the sky from it's shade of pink into a fiery orange.

"It's lovely. You were right, this is a great spot to watch these. I wish you could see it, though."

"I wish I could see a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"The green of the grass, the quivering reflection of the sun on the water, the little formations that everyone spots in the clouds, the lettering on a piece of paper...there are so many things I took for granted that I now miss. You don't know how saddening it is to know that you will never really see the faces of the people you love, even if you can sense their shape. I want to see just how yellow your hair is, how deep a blue your eyes are, and how dazzling your smile is...but I can't, and that hurts."

"You really know what to say at any moment, don't you?"

A chuckle escaped from Menma. "I like to think so." A second later, something pecked her cheek, and it was from Mito. "W-what was that?"

"A kiss. After today, I think you deserve one. You sat through my stories, brought me out of my momentary depression, and you showed me the best spot to see all of Konoha. It's the least I can do." The remaining twin stood up, brushing off the dirt from her pants. "I should get going. The sun has set, and my mom and dad don't like it when I stay out for hours at a time without telling them about it first."

"Oh, okay. Have a good night."

"You can come with, you know. We still have room for you in our house."

"...maybe one day, just not today. Thank you for the offer, though."

Mito was visibly disappointed. "Alright. See you later." She jumped off the monument and onto the roofs of the village, hopping her way back home, leaving Menma all alone.

'I need to go...I don't want to stay on this pile of rock any longer, lest something happen...' She faded from sight, finding a nice roof to stay on, and meditated, waiting for morning to come.

* * *

**A.N.: Yep, I think I can move onto the finals with this. Fair warning, the finals will probably last around four chapters.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 33**

She shouldn't still be here. It was well past midnight, and yet Menma still hadn't left the Namikaze Household. She had come to visit her friends on a whim, and then Mito convinced her to stay until she went to bed, but the abysmal haired girl decided to sit around for a few more hours, and ended up going into Mito's unlocked room. 'Today is the day. The Chunin Exams...I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited. Not for my matches, but because I can finally start my mission. I...I just wish you didn't have to see it come to fruition.' Menma approached her girlfriend's bed, and cupped a hand around her face. 'I can't believe I fell for you, and that I've actually been _happy_ being in this completely different relationship. I would hope you feel the same...but I don't think we're going to be able to continue it, despite me desperately wanting to be able to. Not because I think we can't stay together, but because...my time is probably coming to end. I'm sorry...I know you can't hear me, but please, if I do die and you still care for me at the very end, take care of Haruka.' She bent over, planting a kiss on Mito's exposed forehead. 'I wish you knew how much I love you, but I'm too much of a coward to tell you upfront. See you...later.' Menma went to the open window and jumped out, her haori flapping in the wind.

**-_morning_-**

"**Kit, it's time to wake up."** gently said the Kyuubi, forcing his deep voice into Mito's head, making her start to stir.

'Five more minutes...'

The fox forewent the nice approach. "**No! You need to get up, get ready, and get to the stadium by two! Up and at 'em!"** he yelled, and this time she jolted right out of bed.

'Yes sir!' She darted for her dresser, getting one of the seemingly endless copies of her orange and black jumpsuit, and made a break for the bathroom down the hallway, praying that Sasuke wasn't in there already. He wasn't, so she was able to take a nice, relaxing shower. After that, she went to the kitchen, poured herself some cereal, and began watching TV while everyone else was still asleep. 'Can't you let me sleep in for _one_ day? Nothing's going to be happening until the start of the exams, which are...um...' Having forgotten to check the clock before taking her shower, she didn't actually know what time it was, so she opened the guide and found out. '...five hours away?'

"**No. A good kunoichi wakes up early, and this exam is to see if you can handle being a chunin. You can't handle waking up early, you don't deserve to be promoted."**

'Harsh...but I think I see you're point.'

"**Good, now put it on channel one-seventy-six. I fucking love this show."**

'Why? It's just history.'

"**I like seeing how much they mess up past Hashirama and Madara's time." **Deciding to let Kurama watch it without a fuss, she continued eating and watching the program out of boredom. Before long, Fu, whose body had gotten used to waking up on it's own, and Sasuke joined her on the couch.

"Menma left?" the former jinchuuriki asked.

"I guess. She wasn't here when I woke up."

"Oh. I was hoping she would enjoy breakfast with us."

"So was I, but we can't force her to do something she doesn't want to do."

"Yeah…" More footsteps, and Mito's parents were now in the room.

"Hm, so it seems that the kids beat us down here...and here I was hoping to watch the news." mused Minato, who took a seat in one of the chairs. Kushina did so as well. "So, Mito, Sasuke, how do you feel about today?"

"I can feel my blood pumping. I've been training hard for the past month and I've learned a jutsu from sensei. I bet that I could fight and maybe even beat Menma with my new skills." responded the Uchiha.

He smiled at his answer. "I'm glad you have confidence in yourself. It'll take everything you have to make it to the finale, so use that enthusiasm to your benefit. Mito?"

"I'm ready! With what you and mom have taught me, I know I can make it to the last round!"

"**Hey, what about me?!"**

"Oh, and with fuzzball being able to give me a boost when I need it, I can pick myself up when I get knocked down! I can do this!"

The other blonde shook his head in amusement. 'Oh yeah, she's excited.' "Great! With that attitude, I'm sure that you can take anything the day throws at you. No matter what happens, know that I'm proud of you two. To make it to the final exams so early in your careers is a feat to behold, a testament to your skills. Both of you have a shot at winning it all, and a shot at harder missions. Fight for it."

"We will!" they exclaimed before going back to eating and watching TV, which they now had no control over since the Uzumaki used a chain and took the remote from them. As the hours whittled by and the start of the tournament loomed ever so closer, Mito went up to her room to check her supplies.

"Okay...I think I have enough kunai….shuriken are good...about fifty explosive tags from mom since I still suck at making them...I'm pretty sure I'm ready."

"**Good. Always be prepared for anything. Being over-prepared is better." **sagely said the fox.

After the check up, she turned to leave, but stopped in her tracks when she noticed something...or, in this instance, the absence of something. 'Uh...fuzzball?'

"**Yes?"**

'Wasn't the katana on the bed when we came in here?'

"**It was."**

'Then where did it go? I didn't touch it!'

"**Maybe your mother came in here while you were stuffing your pouches with tools? I didn't feel anyone enter the room, but it's still a possibility."**

'Yeah, that's probably what happened. I'll ask her when we go back down.' she ran out of the room and down the stairs, finding Kushina making sealing arrays in that little journal she had. "Mom? Did you take Anza's katana to clean it?"

"No, not today, why?"

"Because it's not there!"

The redhead immediately closed the book. "What?!"

"Yeah! It was there when I got my tools for my fights, and when I turn around, it magically disappeared!"

"That shouldn't be possible...SASUKE!" A few minutes after shouting the boys name, he came flying down the stairs, tanto barely staying attached to it's holster.

"You called?"

"Did you enter Mito's room while she was restocking her supplies?"

He shook his head. "No. Why, did something happen?"

"Yes. Somehow the katana vanished when Mito turned her back on it."

"A thief?" Sasuke's eyes transformed into the Sharingan, and he narrowed them until you could cut through rock with them. "Who would dare take our last remainder of her? I swear, if I find them, I will make them feel pain they never thought could exist..."

"Woah, slow down hotshot. I know you had a thing for Anza, but I don't think that's necessary." She looked at Mito. "We can rule out thievery, since the Kyuubi didn't sense anyone, right? You would have mentioned it, otherwise."

Her daughter nodded. "Yeah, he didn't sense a thing, and I didn't feel any movement from behind me."

"Then...what happened to it? Swords don't just walk away." wondered the lone male.

"I don't know, but we can't worry about it right now. We need to get to the stadium, it's almost time."

"_(Sigh)_ You're right. Fu! Come on, we're leaving!" Like he did before her, she hurried from her room and met up with the others.

"I'm here, I'm here! I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"Everyone's ready? All your weapons with you?" she asked the participants, getting a nod from both. "Wonderful. Let's go!" The strange family locked up the house and took off for the place that they would the center of Konoha for a few hours. When they got to the massive building, the Uzumaki stopped them before they could enter. "We're going to have to split up. Fu and I are spectating, so we have to go through a separate entrance. The competitor's entrance is on the other side."

"Oh...can you tell us where you'll be sitting at?" asked Mito.

"Minato pulled some strings and got us seats near the Kage Box, so look for us there. We'll be cheering you on the entire time."

"Thanks!" The Namikaze and her best friend took a shortcut, the rooftops, and made it to the second entrance in record time. Giving their information to the shinobi in charge so they could get through, they finally made it to their section, and saw just how large it really was. "Wow...this place can hold a lot of people."

"Of course it can. Thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands of people are in Konoha right now, and these fights are what everyone wants to see. It's even being broadcasted to all participating villages, so millions are going to be scrutinizing us." a second female voice said from their left, and of course it was their missing teammate, leaning on the rail with a bag in hand. "That means we don't have to hold back, or else we may not get that promotion."

"Menma? You're here already?" asked Sasuke.

"I've been here since four in the morning."

"Why?"

"Why not?" He had no follow up for that, so he decided to remain silent.

"Uh...Menma? Where is your blindfold? And what's in that bag?" asked Mito. 'Menma _never_ takes off the blindfold willingly...'

"As I said...we don't have to hold back anymore, and what's in the bag? Something very special to me, since it comes from the place I spent years training at." she cryptically answered in a faraway tone.

Her girlfriend took a spot right next to her. "Is everything alright? You don't sound...like yourself."

"Just...thinking about my past. When the future lies ahead, sometimes you can't help but think of how you got here."

The Uchiha took the spot on her other side. "I know how you feel. All day I've been reliving all my training sessions, the time spent with my first sensei's and my first best friend, and all the laughs we as a team shared." He let out a tired sigh. "I hope we all pass...I don't want us to be split up."

Mito reached over and poked his arm. "Hey, don't worry! We won't be separated! We work best together, dad wouldn't want to be rid of such an advantage."

"Yeah, you make a good point...I shouldn't worry about it. We have bigger things to worry about first."

"That you do." an older male said from behind. The ones that could see turned, and everyone's favorite _Icha Icha_ reader stood with them. "Yo. It's been awhile Mito, Menma."

The blonde tackled him. "It's good to see you again, Kakashi! It's strange seeing you on time!"

"Well, sensei threatened gate duty for a month if I didn't, something about a teacher being there to see his students take the next step in their journey. I don't want that job again…" He shuddered. "_Never again_…so, how's the month been for you?"

Mito let go of her silver haired sensei. "Great! I learned how to fully create a Rasengan! I...can't do it with one hand yet, I either have to have a clone, or have to be in my chakra shroud to create it."

"Pardon me for not understanding, but how does the shroud help?"

"I'm not really sure, but both dad and fuzzball said that the shroud, either by my will or by Kurama's, can be used as the 'shell', and since it's always present as long as stay awake or let it, I can just focus on spinning the chakra."

"Sounds convenient, but I'm happy for you. The Rasengan is a hard thing to learn, let alone use. I should know, I know how to use it as well."

"That's cool! We can figure out how to make it better together, then!"

Kakashi eye smiled. "I would love to. Your father has been working on the very thing for years, he could use the help." He looked at Menma, who still had her back turned. "And what about you?"

"I've been fine. Between training Fu, trying to mix biju chakras, playing with Haruka, and going on little dates with Mito, it's been hectic, but enjoyable."

"Oh yes...I heard from Sasuke about your new status. You better take care of her, she's more or less the closest thing to a sister I have, and if you hurt her…" he let the threat hang in the air.

"I understand." The reunited team sat there waiting, and soon the seats filled up, the remaining competitors and their teachers arrived, and over in the Kage Box, Minato sat with Mei, watching over everyone.

"This years Chunin Exams will be interesting." she commented.

"Indeed, Mizukage-dono. The competition will be fierce." The sounds of footsteps came from behind them. The people responsible made themselves known after a few minutes, taking the other two seats, and their bodyguards taking stances on either side of the chairs. One of these robed men was a muscular, dark-skinned male with combed back blonde hair, a small mustache and a similarly sized beard. He wore giant golden bracers on his wrists, a four pointed yellow headdress with the kanji for 'lightning' on the front of it, and a golden belt with a boars face at it's center. The other was garbed in a green kimono with a white collar, his own hat bearing 'wind' all but hiding his auburn hair. "Ah, Raikage-dono, Kazekage-dono. I don't think I've expressed my gratitude that you came to witness the exams."

"Please, Hokage-dono, there's no need for that. We came because our genin are participating, and by our honor we need to be here for them." said the Raikage.

"Yes, our genin should always know that their leaders do care for them as people, not just as manpower for the village." agreed the only female Kage.

"I'm sorry to cut our conversation short, but it looks like Hayate would like to start." mentioned the Yellow Flash, getting his equals to turn to the field, where the proctor was standing.

"Welcome to the Chunin Exams finals!" he yelled without coughing, putting chakra into his lungs to make his voice louder. The crowd cheered and clapped, obviously wanting to see the fights. "There are three rounds, with a ten-minute break between the first and second, and a fifteen minute one between the second and third. The first and second rounds are one on one fights, but the third is a battle royale where the winners of their second matches will face each other. Now, let's begin! First match: Menma vs. Chojuro!"

Mito held her hand. "I know you don't need it, but good luck! I'll be rooting for you!"

Menma couldn't suppress a light smile. "As long as you do that, I can't lose." She used a shunshin to get down there, and she waited for her opponent to stand across from her.

"It's an honor to meet you, Menma. The Mizukage told me of how you helped end Yagura's reign, and I can't thank you enough." the blue haired boy greeted.

"An honor? Please, I hardly did anything to the bastard, he was too strong for my attacks to have any effect. I merely restrained him long enough for Mei and Ao to finish him off."

"That's still worthy of being called a hero. I wish I could be as fearless as you."

"You can be, Chojuro. I know of how you think that you're not worthy of being one of the Seven Swordsmen, but you are. Mei said that you were the best kenjutsu user the Academy has had in years, and when the Mizukage is the one praising your skills, you have to take notice. Chojuro...fight me as best you can. Don't hold back. Prove to yourself, not to anyone else here, that you are one of the best Kiri has to offer."

"I will. Thank you for this chance."

"So are you two ready?" asked Hayate.

"Not yet. I'm missing something." said Menma, and she dug into the bag, brought a peculiar hat, and put it on. It was similar to her straw one, but it had a pure white drape from the sides that made it to the back. The main color of it was teal, and at the front tip had the kanji for 'vortex', making it look very much like a Kage's hat. "Now I'm good. Chojuro, you are fighting the last Uzukage. As I said, better give it your all." He nodded, and readied his blade as Menma brought out Kubikiribocho.

"Uh...fight!" The two blademasters clashed in a flurry of sparks, their weapons equal in strength. The black haired jinchuuriki was the one on the offensive, launching brutal slashes that would make a lesser man crumble, but not this boy. He carefully analysed her strikes and when he found her rhythm, he turned his sword so that Kubikiribocho would hit at an odd angle, and he pushed it away. Chojuro used this time to attack, but she was fast, recovering just before he could hit her and blocked each attack. Seeing as his blade wasn't going to get past her defense, he tried sweeping her legs while their legendary swords were locked, but she stopped trying to get the advantage and jumped back, just like he wanted.

"Hiramekarei Unleashing!" Chakra exploded from Hiramekarei, blowing it's bandages away. The chakra formed a giant hammer, and he swung the mighty construct, finally managing to hit her in the arm, sending her flying into the boundary wall in a cloud of dust. "_(Huff, huff)_ Got you." He let the chakra go back into the sword for later use.

"Hrrgh...why...do I let people do things…? You'd think I learned my lesson with Lee…" The dust settled, showing her plastered to the wall, Kubikiribocho on the ground next to her. "That's some sword. I think I got the short end of the stick with Kubi."

"Thanks. It's been hard to master it, but it seems I'm a little bit better than you with wielding large weapons."

"That you are. Truth is, I'm better with lighter weapons, but I like to expand my horizons." She pulled herself out of the hole and resealed the large butcher knife. "I'm a hypocrite, and a terrible person. I say we shouldn't hold back due to everyone watching, yet I'm doing the very thing. Let me fix that." Two puffs of smoke surrounded her hands, and when they dissipated, revealed twin swords with slim blades, and two upward-curving prongs on each of them, one near the tip, the other near the hilt. Of course, the Kiri-nin recognized them immediately.

"K-Kiba?! B-but they're suppose to be with Raiga!"

"Raiga? Slippery bastard fell off a cliff, made me have to search damn near every river to find him again. Now, are you ready for this?"

"Not really…"

"To bad, this and my next match are going to be the only ones being graded, so I have to show what I can do." She rushed in, and this time Chojuro had a harder time blocking, with her using two swords instead of one. Menma also seemed to get a feel for his style, as she had an easier time getting through his defenses, nicking him a few times. 'I'm going to end this, otherwise we will be here forever.' As she brought one of the blades back, she charged the thing with as much lightning chakra as she could, setting it ablaze with power. "Eat this!" The self-proclaimed 'Uzukage' made contact with his double handled sword, and the other genin was promptly electrocuted.

"Aaahh!" he screamed as he lost control of his muscles. Menma saw this as the perfect time to punch him with a chakra enhanced fist, and knocked him to the ground with one. Before he could try to stand, she kicked Hiramekarei out of his hand, and pointed her own sword at his throat, lightning dancing along it's edge.

"Concede."

"Alright...I forfeit. I can't compete with you."

"Winner: Menma." said the proctor, and she helped her fellow swordsman up.

"That was great, Chojuro. Stop thinking that you are not worthy of being a shinobi, you clearly are. You almost beat _me_. If I hadn't changed up my swordplay, I would be the loser here."

"But you still could have called upon your biju to give you a boost." he reminded her.

"I could have, and I thought about it...but I have a feeling about who's going to be my next match-up, and I'd rather use my shroud then. Give the crowd something new to see, and all that." She clapped him on the shoulder. "Let's try to keep in touch, okay? I would very much like to hear of your progress every now and then, as a friend."

He gave an awkward smile. "I'll see what I can do."

In the Kage Box, the Fourth Mizukage was impressed. "That was an excellent first match. To think that at such a young age they can wield their blades as easily if it was their arms or legs. I knew Chojuro had talent, but I've never seen him fight so well. And Menma...she can use both Kubikiribocho and Kiba so easily...she has a natural talent for kenjutsu."

Minato nodded. "I agree...but was that performance alone enough to pass them?"

The Raikage held his chin. "For Chojuro, I think he's barely passable. He was great at using his weapons special abilities, and he was able to deflect powerful strikes with relative ease, but we simply didn't see the full extent of his abilities before Menma ended it. This Menma though...I think we should see her next match before we make a decision, but she took advantage of the conductive properties of Hiramekarei, was quick on her feet, and adapted to her opponents style quickly."

The leader of Sunagakure nodded after hearing his fellow leader's deduction. "Agreed. She shows promise, but we need to see more."

Meanwhile, Menma was back with her team. "So you _have_ gone to Uzushiogakure?!" asked Mito.

"Yes. I heard of it while I was on the road with Fu, so we made that our destination. Well, _I_ did, as Fu ultimately didn't come with. When I got there, I searched around for any remnants of the past, and I found…" There was a large amount of smoke, and a huge turquoise scroll was in her hands. "..._this_ thing and a skeleton wearing this hat in an underground chamber, almost untouched by whatever that destroyed the village. I think the leader at the time tried to ensure that someone would find it one day, but I'm not sure."

Kakashi inspected it. "It looks like the Scroll of Seals..."

"Not quite. I think it's the inspiration for it, though. The First Uzukage, as I call him, created this as an archive for any jutsu's that were either created by the Uzumaki's or were insanely useful. The Blood Forming Seal and the Adamantine Sealing Chains were both in here, but the latter was insanely hard to learn, due to it having no hand seals. It was also my way of mastering fuinjutsu, with all the other techniques in it."

Sasuke joined the discussion. "Why call yourself the Uzukage? Uzushio's destroyed, so no one could appoint you to that position legally, and you're not at a Kage's level."

She sighed. "I know that, and it was originally a joke made by Chomei, since I was learning their jutsus, but eventually...I felt like I needed to do more to honor the Uzumaki's than just using their most prized techniques, so I took position of the hat, and started calling myself the 'Uzukage', even though it's meaningless now."

"Next match: Gaara vs. Shino Aburame!" yelled Hayate before anymore banter could go on.

"This should be interesting…" muttered Sasuke, getting the other two too look at him.

"Why?" asked Menma.

"Because Gaara uses sand while barely moving, and Shino uses bugs in a similar matter."

"A battle between stationary enemies...I wonder who'll win?" They focused in on new fighters.

Shino...did not like his odds. 'Gaara is a madman. He coldly kills whoever stands in his way, callously brushes his own teammates off...and he relentlessly attacks with that sand, which also doubles as a shield. My bugs my not be able to siphon chakra out of him...I have to try though.'

"Begin!" The human hive jumped back to gain some space, just in time too, as the Suna-nin sent a wave of sand after him, crashing down at where he once was.

'Too close...so I'm going to have to keep on the move and watch out for patches of sand. I know his type, he'll lay traps while guiding me wherever he wants with his attacks. I'm one of them.' As he did his best to outmaneuver the sea of earth, he let his kikaichu burrow down into the dirt, slowly making their way to Gaara.

"Stop running. It's annoying." the redhead spoke, while still sending out his sand to crush his enemy.

"It would be illogical to do so, since you would kill me." 'Any time now...' His bugs burst from beneath Gaara, and he called out a jutsu. "Insect Sphere." The parasitic beetles swarmed around the slightly shocked boy, but as they closed in to consume his chakra, his sand formed it's own sphere, blocking access. Gaara then manipulated the orb, making miniscule spikes spear the bugs, killing them. 'That didn't work...hm…' "I forfeit the match."

"What?" stated the sand user.

"I can't fight you efficiently. My bugs are near useless, and from what I've seen, I can't get past your defense before it comes up, even if it's right from below you. It wouldn't make sense continuing."

'Good move. If he decided to fight, he would have been killed, and it would have been a major blow for Konoha.' thought Hayate. "Winner by forfeit: Gaara."

Said genin wasn't happy with this outcome. 'I didn't get to kill him...I'm getting anxious. My sand wants to be soaked in blood...I'll have to get it in my next match.' He calmly left the arena, with only his siblings knowing that he was in a bad mood.

"That wasn't much of a match." said the Raikage.

"No it wasn't. We didn't get to see anything of what they can do, so I don't think we can say they deserve a promotion." agreed Mei, with the other Kage's also agreeing.

"Next match: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Shikamaru Nara!"

Sasuke cracked his neck in preparation. "Here I go. Wish me luck." He jumped down before his teammates could say anything, and was forced to wait while the other combatant was brought down by an impatient clone of Menma. "Now that I think about it, we've never fought each other before, Shikamaru. This will be a first."

"I guess. I would have preferred if I could have surrendered before the fight, but my mother would chew me out at home, so it's less troublesome to just fight you."

"You and saying troublesome...I'll never understand it." After their referee begun the match, Shikamaru threw a handful of kunai, surprising the Uchiha at his boldness. '_That's_ not like the Shikamaru I know!' He brought out his tanto and deflected the hand thrown tools, and was forced to retreat as a shadow started to creep closer to him. 'Just got to make sure his shadow doesn't touch mine, and I can outlast him.' The black line stopped coming after him, and the Nara threw more kunai, all of which were easily evaded. 'Kunai, kunai, and more kunai...what's his game? He must know I'm fast enough to not get hit by any of them, and that I know how his jutsu works, so what?' Taking a moment to stand still, he decided to take to the offensive. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" A large ball of flame started making it's way to Shikamaru, but he was far faster than he seemed, dodging it and hiding behind a tree.

'Okay, he seems to be falling for it. He thinks I'm just throwing things and hoping that he'd fall for my jutsu. Unluckily for him...I always plan ahead.' He went through his pouches, and found two things: slow burning explosive tags, and fake ones, and attached them to some of his seemingly endless supply of kunai. 'Now!' He ran out of his hiding spot and threw the fake ones first at Sasuke's feet, getting his eyes to widen.

'Oh shit! Who knew Shika had it in him!' He jumped out of the presumed blast radius, but as he did, his opponent threw more at where he was going to land, and this time they were the real deal. 'More? Gotta be quick...' He barely touched the ground and was on the move again, shooting small fireballs as he did in an effort to stop the Nara from completing what ever his plan was. As he was so focused on him, Sasuke didn't register the kunai he was going to, much less that it was one of the ones with a working tag.

'And you fell for it.' The normally lazy genin went back into hiding, and extended his shadow around the tree, through the multitude of other shadows formed from the kunai, and effectively boxed Sasuke in with a deadly bomb right next to him.

The student of one of the most famed criminals quickly analysed his situation. 'Explosives right next to me, shadow jutsu everywhere else. Both could mean I lose this match, but one equals death...shadow jutsu it is!' He scampered away, and found himself unable to move once a safe distance from the tags. "Good ploy...make me choose between two evils...I forgot how smart you are."

"Whatever. I forfeit, I don't have much chakra left anyway, and I don't want to continue in these troublesome matches." He released Sasuke from his bindings, and made his way up to the waiting area without Hayate even saying the fight was over.

Minato nodded. "Lazy, but he made a plan that fooled even Sasuke into thinking it was something else. His excellent use of his clan's jutsus and fake tags deserve recognition...but Sasuke was rather lackluster in that battle, only using a few jutsus and dodging. He won though, so hopefully he can show us more in his next match." The other leaders didn't argue with that.

"Okay, moving on: Kankuro vs. Neji Hyuga!"

* * *

**A.N.: Sorry if anyone is not satisfied with Gaara's fight, I couldn't think of any way to make it more...epic, I guess would be the closest word that fits.**

**Gespenter: You know...the funny thing is, that's what I was listening to while writing that chapter and this one.**

**Deltahalo: Interesting new theory...does this mean that you don't think Menma is Anza anymore, or is that just the backup? Because you've been holding onto the other theory for awhile...**

**Feel free to leave a review if you want.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 34**

The white eyed prodigy of Team Guy carefully took in every inch of his opponent before the match started. 'He's a puppet user, a long range specialist. If I can get close, he's done for.'

Kankuro did the same. 'He's a member of the Hyuga clan, able to use the legendary Byakugan, said to grant peerless vision and the ability to see my tenketsu. In short, don't let him touch me. I remember what happened to his cousin, and I need to be able use Karasu in order to win.' He grabbed a strap for his puppet in preparation.

The less-sickly proctor decided that they had enough time to study each other. "Begin!"

"Byakugan!" As the veins around Neji's eyes bulged into view, the Suna-nin unbound his puppet and sent it forward while he took a step back. A blade extended from it's wrist and tried to impale Neji, but he dodged it, and while it was trying to turn, he hit it's hard side with a powerful palm strike, sending it away. That didn't slow it down one bit though, and it came right back for more. 'Doesn't feel any pain...I can use that to my advantage.' Karusu let the three other blades reveal themselves, slashing at the Hyuga who hit as many limbs as possible while avoiding the daggers. As time went on, he began hitting harder, and eventually he successfully grabbed one and managed to tear it off, showing a large blade where it was just connecting to the main body. 'Odd...blades on either side? No matter, I have to get the others.' He regained focus, and went back into the fray.

'Yes, tear off the arms, I'll let you...it'll be your downfall.' Purposefully letting his prized puppet be torn to bits, his enemy didn't see that the chakra thread still connecting it. After Neji removed the last one and forced Karusu to the ground, he turned to Kankuro and began to make way, but an arm started to lift off the ground, effectively stopping him.

"What?! How do they still work?!"

"I can control each piece with a thread, or did you not know the specifics of puppetry?" The multiple limbs raised up, went around Neji in a box shape, and pointed at him blade first. Kankuro also disconnected the legs, and added them into the mix. "You're good, but not even you can dodge six projectiles coming from all directions. This is over!" He gave the command, and they shot at the white-eyed boy, who didn't look worried. Instead, he began spinning.

"Kaiten!" He forced chakra out through every tenketsu as he spun, creating a torrent of chakra that shielded him from the attack and sending the parts flying into the walls. Not giving the Kazekage's son a chance to regain the lost sections, he sped forward and hit two points. "Two!" Another two. "Four!" Another four. "Eight!" Another eight. "Sixteen!" Sixteen more. "Thirty-Two!" He doubled it one last time. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" The last hit disrupted the other boy's chakra flow, making him collapse.

"Gug...damn...it…I...almost had...you…"

"No, you didn't. You were fated to lose this match, and I to proceed. No matter what you did, you would have failed."

"Uh...winner: Neji!" With the outcome called, medics rushed to Kankuro's side and took off for the hospital.

"That was...interesting. Short, but interesting. One of the branch members learned techniques that the main hold secret...he must be very observant." mused the Hokage.

"One of your noble clans is a split clan? That must be a headache." commented Mei.

"_(Sigh)_ It can be. Sometimes the branch acts out, the main punishes them for it harshly, and I get stuck with the complaints from both sides. I've been working on it, but the majority of the main house doesn't want to abolish their tradition of branding others, so nothing gets done, and we're stuck at square one."

"Why not force them to? If it causes you that many problems, you could always make a law stating that any clan split into a servant branch and a main one to become one again." said the Kazekage.

"Because then, Kazekage-dono, I open up the very real possibility of civil war by the members of the main branch. Even though I am on good terms with the current head, the other members might go behind his back and plan a coup. I will NOT have that happen." All conversation ended there.

In the stands, a certain Uzumaki was getting excited. "Mito's match is next! Ooh, just call the next one!"

"Calm down, Kushina! Her match will start when it starts, you can't rush it."

Her eyes widened, and she turned her head to see the source of the voice. "Jiraiya? You're back?"

The toad sage rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin on his face, and took the open seat next to her. "Yep. I finished up my business out of Konoha, and I wanted to see my goddaughter in the exams. So, how have the fights been so far?"

Fu jumped into the discussion. "Awesome! To think that if you train for so long you can do such incredible things...good thing I started!"

"Hm...so you must be Fu. I've heard about you from messages from Minato."

"And I have no idea who you are."

A tic-mark grew onto his head. "Little girl, I am the toad sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the legendary Sannin, and super pervert with no equal! Women swoon at the very mention of my name, and men of all ages wish they could be me! I am Jiraiya, teacher of the Fourth Hokage!"

Fu's face showed no hint of excitement. "Good for you."

"Kids these days don't have respect for their elders…"

Kushina threw herself back into the conversation. "Anyway, it's great to see you here. I know Mito likes having her 'uncle' around, so you being here will mean a lot to her. You know, she recently learned the Rasengan."

"She did? That's great! I remember how much she showed interest in learning it years ago, so it must have been like a dream come true when it finally worked correctly."

She smiled at the memory. "You could say that. She jumped up and down like she was four years old again, not a highly trained genin!"

He too smiled at the picture. "I wish I could have seen that, but unfortunately I had things that needed to be done." He was about to turn to the arena, but he saw something on the seat the redhead was on. A curious black mark that seemed to say 'blink', but each kanji was stylized to the point of nearly being unreadable. "Kushina, what's that?"

She turned to look at it, and Fu too stared at the lettering. "Honestly, I don't know. It was there when I got here, and it didn't react when I put chakra into it, so I deemed it safe."

"Hm...I wonder what it is, and if there are any more here…"

"Next match: Mito Namikaze vs. Karui!" With Hayate's cry, Kushina's daughter and the Kumo-nin made their way to the field of battle.

"You're a jinchuuriki." the dark skinned girl said.

"What makes you say that?"

"In the prelims, you used a cloak like the one that my sensei uses, and he's a jinchuuriki, so you can see how I know."

"Oh. Well...uh...is he here? I'd like to meet another person like me."

"No, he's not allowed to leave Kumo. So…" She unsheathed her katana. "...are you ready to lose?"

Mito brought out a kunai in response. "I should be asking you that question."

The proctor started the match. "Fight!" The aggressor was Karui, charging in with slashes of her long blade. Luckily, the blonde's spars with Sasuke came in handy, so she was able to deflect the blades with some difficulty.

'These guys from Kumo know their stuff! Without his Sharingan, Sasuke isn't as good as them!' After blocking an attack, she threw a punch out, but it didn't land as Karui leaned her head to the left, away from it, and she returned it. It was fairly strong, sending the Hokage's daughter back a few feet, and using the new distance, performed a jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four clones came to life and joined the fray.

"**You **_**do**_ **realize that you could end this in only a few seconds if you use a tail, right?"** voiced the fox while his container was trying to think of a plan.

'Yeah, but I can win this without it. Just have to land a Rasengan.'

"**Which would be easier if you cloak yourself in my chakra."**

'I'll use it when I need it, but if I seem to be in a bad place, don't hesitate, alright?'

Back with Karui, she was having a little trouble blocking four stab crazy clones. 'These actually can hurt me! I knew she was going to have a lot of chakra being like B-sensei, but this is ridiculous!' One of the duplicates managed to scratch her non-dominant arm. "Okay, enough! Cloud-Style Front Beheading!" With a single, chakra infused slash, she destroyed all but one clone, which was promptly destroyed with a follow up swing. Spying the lone orange wearing genin, she ran toward her while her opponent went through some more hand seals.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" The kenjutsu user had to avoid and cut through multiple fireballs, and when she made it to her target, she cut her across the chest, but no blood came out as 'Mito' was revealed to be a clone.

'She made more?! Where is she?!' A lone kunai with an explosive tag impaled itself on the ground in front of her, surprising her, and without thinking she jumped back just in time for it to explode, sending a cloud of dust and ash into the air and blocking her vision.

In one of the trees, Mito and a clone stood on one of the branches, forming a Rasengan. 'Good...now all I have to do is hit her. Easy enough...I think...' The technique formed completely, and when the dust cloud thinned enough to where she could tell where the Kumo-nin was, she poured chakra into her legs and jumped at her. "Rasengan!"

"No!" Karui brought her katana up to block it, and as they touched, the powerful jutsu grinded against the metal, snapping it after a few seconds of contact. It continued onward and hit the redhead, sending her spiraling away.

"I did it!" said Mito when she didn't spy the other girl getting up.

Hayate went over and checked Karui, putting two fingers on her neck. "She's alive, but out cold. Winner by knockout: Mito!"

"Alright! You won!" shouted her mother, getting her to grin as wide as she could while she went back to the waiting area.

A hit the edge of his seat, causing it to crack under his immense strength. "Damn it! I'm out! That's some brat you have, Hokage-dono."

"Thank you, you're kunoichi is good as well. Who's teaching her, if I may ask?"

"My brother, B. You remember him."

"Ah, yes. The jinchuuriki of the Hachibi. No wonder she's so good at kenjutsu. I'm sorry that Karui couldn't show off more before her defeat."

He waved it off. "Bah, it's fine. Just means I'm going to have to tell B to increase their training regimen if I don't decide she deserves to be a chunin."

"So what are our initial impressions? I think that from what we saw from this battle, only Mito really deserves to be promoted, being able to use the Kage Bunshin to confuse the enemy and hit them with a surprise attack, which just so happens to be an A-Rank jutsu, but that in of itself isn't much to go on." summarized Rasa, with the others not really adding to it due to it being pretty much true.

"Okay, final match of the first round: Tenten vs. Dosu Kinuta!" shouted the jonin, and soon the final two were face to face. As soon as he gave the signal for the fight to begin, the kunoichi brought out a scroll and unfolded it, sending kunai and shuriken at Dosu, but he used his gauntlet to block the majority of them from hitting his flesh. Once the torrent died down he went after her and forced her to fight in a taijutsu duel, where she seemingly had the upper hand, catching his punches while landing multiple hits on him.

'I don't know what Lord Orochimaru was talking about. 'Konoha ninja are weak'? I don't think so, since nearly everyone one of them I fought against is just as good as me, or even better, if _those_ two are any indication...' He was hit in the face, momentarily stunning him, and kicked in the chest, creating distance between them. 'I wonder why he called off the invasion...was the threat of that girl, the Hokage, and the Mizukage too much for him? I guess it doesn't matter, we'll just bide our time and strike later.' The Oto-nin brought chakra into his right arm and struck the ground, sending waves of sound to his opposition. Manipulating it, he guided his attack into her ear, and the effects were immediate

"Gaaah!" Tenten screamed as she clutched her ear, her vision starting to swim, and she went on her knees to help stabilize her. 'It...it's that arm of his...but how do I defend against it…?'

"I guess I'm lucky this time. Unlike the blind girl I fought in the forest, you can feel the full effects because you can see the area around you. Not feeling so good, are we?" he taunted.

'I can't see, and my ear seems to be damaged. I can feel blood leaking out of it...but I have to fight!' Shakily, she let go of her ear and stood back up. "I'm...not out yet!" The lone female of Team Guy brought out two scrolls and set them upright on the ground. "Twin Rising Dragons!" Large amounts of smoke came from them and rose up in the shape of the mythical beasts. When they were high enough, the weapons expert jumped between them, dispersing the smoke to reveal that the scrolls were spinning in the air, and began summoning all the weapons that were stored inside, throwing them at Dosu, but her vision was still messed up, so quite a bit were off the mark, missing him entirely.

'You're only making this harder for yourself...everything that hits my speaker only makes my techniques stronger.' Dosu thought while he blocked the ones that did get to him. Tenten soon used up every stored weapon, but it wasn't done yet as she used strings for another round of attacks. 'These people are resourceful. I didn't even notice the wires.' He dodged and deflected as many as he could, taking a few scratches from a few, and ultimately the secondary attack failed.

She made it back to the ground, legs wobbling from dizziness. 'My new jutsu...didn't work?'

"Good try, little girl, but I think you're out of options." He dashed forth and hit her in the stomach before she could react, and forced more sound into her ears. She didn't even get to scream out in pain before being knocked out.

"Winner: Dosu! And with that, the ten minute break starts now!"

With the other competitors, Menma let her head hit the rail. "Why do we need these breaks? I want to fight, not settle down."

"I would assume it's for the people that _don't_ have nearly endless stamina." said Sasuke.

"_(Sigh)_ I guess you're right. I just want this day to be over..."

"Why?" asked Mito.

"I just...do. Don't worry about it, everyone has those days at some point." The Namikaze looked like the answer wasn't enough, but decided to do as she said.

"Well, I'm going to get something to drink. Do any of you want something, or want to come with?" asked their cyclopean sensei.

"If I need something, I'll get it on my way back from the restroom, but thank you for the offer." answered the 'Uzukage'.

"I'll have a bottle of water." said Mito.

The Uchiha "Same."

"Alright, I'll be right back." The cyclopean jonin left with his hands in his pockets.

"I'll be going too. See you two in a few minutes." Menma walked away in a different direction, and her teammates looked at eachother.

"Sasuke...do you think she's been acting...odd?"

"A little...it's as if she really doesn't want to be here, yet only a month ago she liked the prospect of fighting hard opponents. I wonder what's changed..."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly. She's hardly even smiling, only showing a ghost of one when I talk to her. I hope everything's fine…"

In the women's restroom, the mini-Hokage lookalike was washing her hands and splashing her face in frustration. Luckily, she was the only one in there at the moment, so no one could see her losing her cool. 'Why?! Why can't I steel myself to complete this mission? Damn it, I blame my team!'

"**Maybe it's because you don't really want to do it?"** said Chomei.

'Ridiculous! He's the source of all my problems, my anger! I want to be free of them, and yet...'

"**You wonder what the cost is, don't you?"** This time it was Son Goku, and the question caused his jinchuuriki to sigh.

'Yeah...is my happiness truly worth it? If I ignore this, how many others can stay happy? Will it destroy everything we've built, we've trained for? I don't know anymore...'

"**But you've been waiting for this day for so long! You can't stop when you're one foot in the door!"**

'I know...but...'

The giant turtle let out a rumble. "**Whatever you choose to do, we will still be there for you. Even if that path means our deaths, we'll lend you our power to the very end."**

'Thanks, Isobu. I'm glad we could become friends. If this is our final day together, I want all three of you to know that it was an honor working beside you.'

"**There's no need for that. You genuinely care for us biju as living beings, where hardly anyone does. The honor was **_**ours**_**, right Chomei, Isobu?"**

"**Right."** They unanimously replied.

'Thank you...well, I guess I should get back. Don't want to be late for my match.' She dried off, and instantly appeared behind Mito, Sasuke, and Kakashi, who had come back with their drinks. "I'm back. Did I miss anything?"

Kurama's jinchuuriki shook her head. "Nope. You're probably just in time."

"Good." Menma took the open space between the two in her age group.

"Menma, how do you plan on beating Gaara?" asked Sasuke.

"Why do you ask? Think I'll lose?"

"No, but from all we've seen, no one can't get past his defence. How can you fight a shield that always blocks your attacks, from any and all angles?"

"You make a good point, but I'll win. I spent years learning two jutsu's that, when used in tandem with each other, will guarantee to overwhelm someone like him, and I've been waiting until this day to show them. It was because of them I even bothered to master fuinjutsu to the point I did. The absolute defence will crumble under the ultimate offensive combo."

He blinked a few times. "...what?"

She let out a chuckle. "To put it simply: I'll grind his shield into dust." Before the Uchiha could get more out of her, Hayate's voice resounded around the stadium.

"The first match of the second round: Menma vs. Gaara!"

* * *

**A.N.: I have _not_ felt motivated while writing this chapter, so sorry for the wait. Hopefully the next one will be done a little quicker. **


	35. Chapter 35

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 35**

The moment the words left the referee's mouth, Menma vanished to the ring, and Gaara used a sand shunshin to appear before her. 'So...Son, are you ready to kick your brother's ass?'

"**Oh hell yes! With how much Shukaku called his sand the best defense, I want to show just how useless it is against my heat!"**

'I figured as much. This...is going to be fun.'

In the other jinchuuriki's head, he was having his own biju shout into his skull. "**Gaara! You **_**must**_ **kill this girl! Listen to your mother, give me her blood, and you can prove your existence!"**

'Of course, mother.' "You…when I kill you, I will prove that I exist. I will drench my sand with your blood, and make my mother happy."

"Then prepare to be disappointed. I won't lose this fight, or my life, to someone like you. I have too much to do before my time is up."

Hayate looked at both of them. 'I better stay a fair distance away, this could get brutal in only a few minutes.' "Uh...begin!" He jumped back to the other side of the arena, where he could spectate safely.

"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu!" Menma started the battle by spitting molten boulders at Gaara, who's sand caught them, but the denser liquid surrounding them dragged the sand down, making it harder to control. In response, the redhead put a pile of sand under him and started floating across the arena, giving him superior mobility as long as she solely used Son Goku's powers. 'I was right, this _will_ be fun!' Gaara brought more sand out of his gourd and sent it cascading after her, which she outmaneuvered by activating her two tailed cloak. She dashed around wave after wave of the substance, and when she got close enough she lept at the cloud he was riding, only for him to manipulate it so that she missed...or so he thought. She swung her tails at him as she passed, but like her lava bullets, they were deflected by the sand. 'Gah, too slow! I guess I have no choice but to use a kunai.' she thought as she landed back on the ground.

'Now I have her...' With all the sand he sent to the ground, there was more than enough for what he was about to do. He took control of it all, and started to rapidly form a sphere around his opponent.

"Oh that can't be good…"

"Sand Binding Coffin!" The object collapsed, and held her tightly, unable to move.

'Guh...forget the jutsu, I need...more...power!'

"Sand Waterfall Fu-" Before he could finish her execution, the sand started to move on it's own, a low rumble started to come from it, and he found it harder to constrict the spot where she was. "What's going on…?" Suddenly, the sand exploded with a roar, and it seemed like there was another person in Menma's place, but in the exact same clothes. Everything on her was a dark red color, her mouth was a jagged white opening, and the four tails looked like they were real, not just made in chakra. There was also a small crater under her feet, showing just how much force the apparent transformation had. As soon as she was free, she went to a spot with less sand, and reverted back to her normal four tailed form.

"I really should have suspected that you would have used the leftover amounts of sand to trap me, but I was so focused on hitting you that I forgot. Needed to take more chakra from Son than normal to get free." Without warning, the 'Uzukage' threw a single kunai at him, but of course his automatic defense caught it.

"You should have stayed in that form." he commented.

"I could have, but then what I'm about to do next could be attributed to that instead. Thanks for catching the kunai, you just made it too easy for me, but I'll do you a favor, I'll let you see my jutsu. Don't blink, or you'll miss it." A black light flashed to life, and she was inside his defense before he could react. She hit him in the face, sending him tumbling, but he used the remaining sand in his gourd to catch himself.

Minato's mouth was agape. "That...that was the Hiraishin!"

A looked at him with widened eyes. "You mean this little girl knows one of the most dangerous jutsus ever known?! Did you teach her that?!"

"No! I've barely talked to her since she came to Konoha!"

"Then how does she know it?"

"I...I don't know…it took me years to figure out the theory and apply it to the real world...how could she..." he was so dumbfounded that he didn't even finish his sentence.

Back at the fight, Gaara had just picked himself back up. "You...you got past my defence…"

"And I'll do it again. With that hit, I gave _you_ a marker, so I can teleport to you any time I wish. Do you realise how hopeless this is now? _Give up_."

"No! I'll kill you!"

"Then die trying!" She stuck a hand out, and a scarily familiar ball started forming from her palm. Once the spinning orb stabilized, she blinked behind him, and slammed the jutsu into his back. "Rasengan!" His sand didn't protect him fast enough, and he was sent flying again. When he finally hit the ground, he was motionless. "Fool, if you stopped fighting, maybe you wouldn't have had to end up in the hospital."

Hayate made his way to the boy. 'Yep, he seems unconscious. I guess we know who the winner is.' "The winner of the match is-" The body started twitching, causing him to stop his declaration. Gaara rose up while his sand started to return and cover one half of his body.

"She hurt me...she needs to die...any who threaten me...will be EXTERMINATED!" He turned to Menma with that, and Hayate and the crowd by way of camera could see that his right eye's sclerae were now black, it's iride yellow, and a pupil with a four-pointed star in it. More sand encroached on his body, and in a few minutes a small, humanoid recreation of Shukaku stood in front of her instead of a genin from Sunagakure.

"**He's starting to use more of Shukaku's power. Be careful, even if he's only the Ichibi, our brother still has incredible strength."** warned the monkey.

'I know. Looks like we're going to need the other cloak to fight him safely.'

"**Agreed. Make it quick though, we don't want the stadium to be destroyed."** Her shroud tightened around her and blackened, and she was ready for combat. Gaara charged at her with his massive arms and tried to crush her with them, but she easily caught them with her own, sinking an inch into the ground from the force of the impact. Her tails changed into hands and started pulverizing the Suna-nin, forcing him to back off to avoid the painful strikes, but he didn't get much respite. She immediately flashed to his position and started another barrage of red-hot punches, ending with a left hook that made him stumble back a few feet.

'Damn, that sand is _hard_. There's no way that's normal.' she said to Son.

"**It's sand directly infused with Shukaku's chakra, what did you expect?"**

'...point taken. Wait...is something happening? I feel a massive influx of chakra coming from him...'

In the seal, the Yonbi's eyes widened. "**You need to restrain him **_**now**_**! He's trying to go full size!"**

'What?! If he does that, it'll crush everyone!'

"**He doesn't care! Just restrain him, before that happens!"**

Rasa knew what was about to happen, and stood up. "I have to stop him. He shouldn't unleash Shukaku here, it isn't the place to do so." Golden dust started to seep out of a small container under his robes, but the Fourth Hokage stopped him.

"No, there's no need for that, Kazekage-dono."

"Are you insane?! You would let him kill nearly everyone here?!"

"Not at all, but you're assitance isn't needed. Watch." Reluctantly, the Kazekage stood down, but spread his dust around the battlefield just in case.

"I...won't lose to you!" shouted Gaara inside his sand shell, only to get Menma to scoff.

"You don't get a say in the matter, you insane bastard!" Chakra chains erupted from her body and coiled around him before he could complete his transformation. "I'm ending this! You've gone too far!" She cut off Gaara's connection to his biju's chakra, causing the sand to fall off his body. She deactivated her cloak and approached her opponent, and punched him in the face. "You fool! There are innocent people here, and you would risk their lives, just to kill me?!" She hit him again. "Answer me, damn it!"

"Yes...why should I care about them?"

"Because they haven't done anything to you!"

"I don't care."

"You...don't...care? WHY DON'T YOU DON'T CARE?!" She tightened the chains enough to get him to cry out in pain.

"Because...I live...only for myself. You only gain strength...by embracing loneliness."

"Then you really ARE a fool! How do you think _I_ became strong enough to beat you?! I had people to protect, people I love! I have things I want to do, and those things require strength! You will NEVER know those things as long as you believe that a solitary existence will make you strong!" She turned to Hayate, who still wasn't sure if he should get closer or not. "He can't escape my chains, not when I'm not tired. Do I win?"

"Uh...considering that you've had him tied up for a rather long time while his struggling is doing nothing, I'd say so. Winner: Menma!"

She let Gaara go, and he fell to the ground unceremoniously. "Don't bother trying to attack me, that will only draw the ire of every jonin in this place. Not even you can hold them off." The girl in white returned to her team, where the burning questions were asked.

"How do you know the Hiraishin and the Rasengan?!" all three members of her team asked, and she sighed.

"I knew you were going to ask that...it...would be easier to show you." Her left hand was surrounded by smoke, and as it thinned out, a faded leather journal was in her grasp. "These are notes on both techniques...written by the Fourth Hokage."

"How...how did you get them? Did you...don't tell me you stole them while you were in my house one day…" asked Mito.

"No, I didn't. I...found them on a body, a girl around my age, on a river bank. She had a hair color I hadn't seen before in a young child, white."

The pieces started to come together. "A river...white hair...you...you found my sister?"

"Yes. She...had this on her person, inside a storage seal. Thanks to my _loving_ parents, I knew how to unseal things, and this thing came out. I liked the ideas, so I devoted a lot of time to learning them. If the notes weren't so in depth, I don't think I would have been able to learn you're father's jutsu's, or at the very least the Hiraishin. I may be good at fuinjutsu, but it's beyond that, only my dabbling in the Uzumaki arts allowed me to gain a grasp it."

"But why didn't you tell me about you finding her body?! What did you do with it?!"

A frown marred her face. "I didn't know who it was, and since I can't see you, I couldn't make the connection until after you told me the circumstances of her death, and what I did...nothing. I had just gotten free from the bandits, I just wanted to get to _somewhere_ as soon as possible, so I left her. It wasn't because of me that no one could find the body. I'm sorry, I should have told you, and I should have given the journal back as soon as I met you, but I held onto it. I didn't want to lose the thing that allowed me to get to these heights."

"I...I guess I can accept that apology. Would it be alright to hand it over after the exams, though?"

The frown warped into a smile. "I'd love to." 'But I don't think that'll be possible...'

The proctor got their attention. "Alright, next fight: Sasuke vs. Neji!"

"The battle of the eyes...the Hyuga's have always wanted to prove that they were stronger than the Uchiha...I guess we'll find out." murmured the Team Seven competitor before meeting the Hyuga in the ring.

"Sasuke, save yourself the trouble and give up. You know the Sharingan can't compare to the Byakugan."

"How about you shut up? I've heard all you've had to say about people's destiny, and I'm sick of it. When will you learn that fate isn't predetermined?"

"When I'm proven wrong."

"And what would it take for that? An academy student to beat a Kage? Get off your high-horse, and realize that nothing is pre-planned by forces at work! I'll prove it to you, by beating you, right here, right now!" His eyes activated, and he stared at the other genin with a fire that couldn't be quenched.

"You can try, but you'll fail, like all the others." He turned on the Byakugan, and took the Gentle Fist stance while Sasuke took his own, designed to catch and return the force of attacks.

"Begin!" Neji moved first with a palm strike, but the Uchiha twisted out of the way, as even the slightest touch could mean the end of it all. Not wasting any time, he tried to punch him, but the Hyuga was quick and managed to block it with his arm. For awhile they danced around like this with each other, neither gaining an obvious advantage.

'This isn't working...I need to take a step back and figure this out...' As he deflected a attack meant for his chest, his Sharingan noticed a large amount of chakra swelling up inside Neji. 'Oh no...'

"One Blow Body!" He released a shockwave from all his tenketsu, sending Sasuke away.

'That's...not the way out I wanted...' he thought as he stood back up. Suddenly, his enemy got back in melee range and they were back in another taijutsu duel, but as Sasuke was going to dodge a palm, the Byakugan user switched directions, changed his attack from a palm strike to a pointed finger one, and managed to get a rather devastating blow on the Uchiha's arm, as he closed one of his chakra points. 'Just...got to keep this up...don't let him close the other ones...' They traded more blows, and when they broke apart, Sasuke came out more worse-for-wear than Neji, who only had a few forming bruises on his face and forearms. 'Close range...isn't working...' He formed the tora seal, and called out one of his best jutsus. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The characteristic large mass of flame shot forward, and Neji only had two options: play it safe, or dodge.

"Kaiten!" He spun, and the dome of chakra sprang to life, destroying the fireball before it could do any damage.

'Damn it, no opening! I guess I have no choice, then...Kakashi-sensei said not to use this unless my comrades are in danger or my life is on the line, but I need to win, I need to prove him wrong!' He started going through more signs, but the boy in front of him went into a new stance, one that he'd seen before in the fight against Kankuro.

"You're fight is hopeless, and then you'll realize that your existence is determined at birth!" He charged forward, putting chakra into his two index and middle fingers, and prepared to strike. "Two!"

"Not this time!" Using the predictive abilities granted by the Sharingan, he first deflected Neji's right arm, rendering that attack useless, and, with his injured arm, managed to guide the other strike to his leg, a safer place than in his chest. It also had the benefit of missing a chakra point, so the only effect was a terrible pain. He immediately countered with a chakra infused fist to the face, and Neji was back at range.

The prodigy of the branch wiped away some blood that was leaking out of his mouth from the blow. "Not bad. You're training over the years made you quick enough to deflect the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms."

"Thanks for the compliment." Sasuke sarcastically spat, before going through the hand signs required for his team sensei's technique. Since his main arm was injured, he brought down his right one, and charged chakra into his hand. Lighting soon started to cascade around it, and the sound of birds chirping resounded into the air. "Chidori!" He sped off, and the sheer power emanating from the jutsu tore the ground apart.

'What strength...' He too went forward, and the two traded one last exchange. Neji struck Sasuke's stomach, the source of his chakra, and Sasuke hit his shoulder, but didn't pierce through it like the technique normally does. No, he let the electricity go through the Hyuga's body, electrocuting him. After it was done, they both collapsed.

'A...a double knockout?' thought Hayate, and he went over to them, checking their vitals. 'This hasn't happened before...' He stood back up, and face the crowd. "It looks like both competitors are unable to continue. I hereby declare this match-" A hand grabbed his foot, and when he looked down, Sasuke was still awake, struggling to get up.

"W-wait...I'm...not...done…" Using the jonin as support, he successfully got back on his feet, albeit _very_ tired. "I...win…"

"That you do...winner: Sasuke!" Medics swarmed the three on the field, and they took the fighters away to be healed.

"I don't know about you three, but I thought that was a good match. We got to see just how adept at taijutsu they were, and their range of jutsus. What do we think: do they deserve to be called chunin?" asked the Hokage.

Mei was first. "Sasuke: maybe. He's quick and can analyze the situation quickly and make it work to his advantage if his deflection of Neji's Sixty-Four Palms is any indication. Neji: I'm not sure. He's talented, sure, but his attitude, how he carried himself...I wouldn't want someone like that going up in the ranks."

"I would promote him. Every village needs superb shinobi, and he would be a great one with his abilities. The Byakugan would make him an excellent tracker, and alongside his overwhelming taijutsu skills, he could fill two niches when one is needed." said the Kazekage, and Minato looked at the only one who hadn't yet say anything.

"From what we've seen, they both have my vote for the rank of chunin. Excellent taijutsu, eyes that give them abilities that not many could have, powerful jutsu, and they both have analytical minds. If they don't deserve it, I don't know who does."

In the waiting area, the blonde jinchuuriki was a little worried. "I hope Sasuke's alright...he wasn't looking so good after that fight…"

Menma put a hand over hers. "He'll be fine. The medics will fix him up, and he'll be right back up here with us before the finale. What _you_ need to worry about is your fight with Dosu. He can throw you off balance with sound, and while you're affected by it, he can freely attack you. You're going to have to end it quickly before that happens."

Mito looked at the ground, starting to realize what her victory would mean. "Yeah…" 'But...if I win my match, you'll forfeit in the last round, just because I'm there...'

"Let's move on to the last match of the second round: Mito vs. Dosu!" The Oto-nin left the waiting area, but the Namikaze went nowhere.

"Um...Mito? You're match was called, aren't you going to go?" asked her white-clad partner.

"No." She raised a hand to get the proctor's attention. "I forfeit!"

"What?!" Menma grabbed her shoulders, and forced Mito to face her. "You...you can't forfeit! Don't do this to yourself! You deserve to fight in the finale!"

"But you deserve it more. You're stronger, faster, and smarter than me."

"No! You're better than me! Go down there, beat that man, and fight Sasuke!"

The blonde let a big, shit-eating grin grow on her face. "I'm sorry, but I won't."

"Are you sure you want to forfeit?" asked Hayate, getting a nod.

"Yes!"

"Then the winner by default is Dosu!" With the declaration, the 'Uzukage' let go of Mito, and punched the rail they were leaning on, denting it.

"This wasn't how it was suppose to go…I was suppose to be the one to forfeit, not you! Mito, do you realize that with this, you might not be promoted?!"

"Of course."

"Then why, why would you risk prolonging your advancement?!"

"Because I...I didn't want you to forfeit."

"But you never had a problem with it before! In fact, you seemed to enjoy the idea of someone forfeiting just for you!"

"And that was sweet of you, but I really think you should fight in the final match instead of me. You're a better ninja than me in every way, and for you to just give up when you reach the end wouldn't sit well with me, as it would be my fault."

"Fine! It's not like you could change your choice now, anyway…" She settled back to leaning on the rail, arms crossed. 'Maybe...this is for the best. At least...if I choose to do this, I wouldn't ruin her happy day...'

**-_ten minutes later_-**

Sasuke finally came back to the waiting area. "Hey guys!"

Mito turned at his voice. "Sasuke! How are you feeling?"

The Uchiha took his normal spot next to her. "Sore, but I can manage. So...how did your match go?"

Menma scowled. "She didn't fight. She forfeited before the fight even began."

"What?!"

The other girl rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah…"

"I thought you were hoping to win the tournament?"

"I was in the beginning, but after you won your fight, and I remembered that she wasn't going to fight us, leaving it like the spars we've had for years, I didn't really want to go on."

"Oh...so it'll be me, Menma, and Dosu in the final round?"

"Yep!"

He looked at who was going to be his opponent. "Could you do me a favor, Menma?"

"Depending on what it is."

"Could you fight me without using Chomei, Son, or Isobu's powers, only your own?"

"You mean not actively?" He nodded. "...sure."

"Okay, the break is over! The final match of the day: Sasuke vs. Menma vs. Dosu!" All three made their way to the ring with Hayate's announcement.

'Those two have made a fool out of me on two separate occasions...today, I'll have my revenge...' menacingly thought the bandaged man.

'I really don't stand a chance...if she hits me even once, she can put a marker on me, and then I have to worry about her teleporting to me. She also knows how to use the Rasengan...yep, I'm screwed, but I'll give it my all.' thought the other male.

'My own power...if only you knew what that was...'

"Are you ready?" asked the jonin, and they nodded. "Then you may begin!" Sasuke attacked first, going after Dosu with his tanto. The Oto-nin used his gauntlet to deflect as many of the strikes as he could, storing the vibrations for later use. He tried to use his other hand to hit the heir of the Uchiha clan, but he easily blocked the punches, and they went back and forth, with Dosu gaining more and more power, but also being the one with the most injuries.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" shouted Menma, and the dueling men had to break away from each other to avoid the earth-tearing gust of wind.

'Right...while I'm distracted with one, the other can use that time to attack either one of us...I'm going to have to take them out at the same time!' Like with his fight with Tenten, he struck the ground, gaining even more juice for his jutsu, and released everything he had. "Say goodnight!"

The two teammates tried to negate the sound wave by covering their ears, but it was no use. It slipped through their hands, and when it reached the inner ear, they began feeling the force of the jutsu. Sasuke turned on his Sharingan and tried to see Dosu, maybe put him under a genjutsu, but he just couldn't see anything clearly, and his stomach was starting to feel twisted. 'If...if I hadn't taken him out as quickly as I did in the Forest of Death...I could be dead right now...his sound...it's terrible...'

'Okay, based on my previous encounter with her, Menma will recover the fastest, so I have to take this chance and finish her off!' Dosu charged his heavy plated arm with more chakra, ran forward to the girl, and attempted to smash her head with it, but she recovered faster than the last time, and caught his arm with her own. 'Shit!' He again used his sound waves to damage her ears, but despite the obvious pain on her face, she moved her hands up to his head and kept a firm grip on him.

"I'm...sick...of your...shit...STAY QUIET!" In a twist, instead of squishing his head like a grape, she opened her eyes, and what he saw terrified him.

Pure, blood red irises, with three tomoe spinning around her pupils.

"The...the Sharingan…" was all he managed to say before going completely limp, his visible eye clouded.

She threw his body to the ground, and looked at Sasuke. "Dosu isn't going to be getting up anytime soon. We still need to fight."

His vision started to clear, and he too saw her eyes. "B-but how...how do you have the Sharingan?!"

Menma looked to the ground, shame on her face. "They...were suppose to be a gift, but they only became a curse…"

"So you lied about being blind this whole time?!"

"Yes...these were meant to be a last resort, or to be shown only when I found my targets...but I'm sick of hiding who I am. I just...want to be me. Sasuke...do you want to see an insight of that?"

"I...guess."

"Thank you." In her eyes, the tomoe started to enlarge and move closer to the pupil, leaving a small red circle the only thing to distinguish it. They combined, forming a three pointed pinwheel, and began to quiver erratically. After a few seconds, her Sharingan cracked, and the pinwheel became jagged and uneven.

"They...they changed...just like Shisui-sensei's…"

"This...is my Mangekyo Sharingan. They grant me superior abilities than the normal Sharingan...but you knew that, didn't' you?"

"Yes...Shisui had a Mangekyo, but he hardly used them. He only showed me when Anza said I should know about them…what...what can you do with them?"

"It doesn't matter, only one ability can be effectively used in combat, and I don't plan on using any of them to fight you. We need to get back on track, and finish this." A poof of smoke surrounded her left hand, and a black, silver trimmed katana was in her grasp, getting Sasuke's eyes to widen.

"That's Anza's katana! You...you were the one who stole it!"

"Such a magnificent blade shouldn't be locked up in a room. I would have thought you of all people would know that."

He put a hand on his head. 'I was not prepared for today...' "Mito, Kushina, and I were wondering where it went earlier. How did you get it without Mito knowing?"

"Last night, I...let myself into her room, and put a Hiraishin marker on it, so I could teleport it to me later. Now, enough talking…" She unsheathed the blade masterfully, put the scabbard away into a seal, took a two-handed stance, and set a neutral, emotionless expression on her face. "Let's go."

For a minute, he thought he was seeing a ghost. 'T-t-t-that stance...that face...only two people had that face…' Before he could ask anymore questions, she charged at him, and by reflex he lifted his tanto to block her, with success. Menma pummeled him with blows that he'd seen before, and he could imagine that this was one of his fights with Mito's twin sister. When she slowed down for a second, he took the offensive, and she guarded with the katana as if she used it for years...and knew what he was going to do before he himself did. His onslaught didn't last long though, as she easily disarmed him in only a matter of seconds. Deciding to forgo the sword approach, he backed up, and formed the tora seal...only to get an eerie feeling as she formed the same one.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" They both shouted, and two large balls of flame collided and exploded in a fierce light. Once the light subsided, Menma was already on top of Sasuke, pressing her weapon advantage. He dodged as best he could, but eventually she swept his legs from under him, and pointed her sword at his face.

"Sorry Sasuke...maybe next time?"

Her words resounded through his skull. 'So many things...her stance...her expression...that phrase...' "How do you know Anza's movesets?"

"Just...forfeit. I don't want to knock you out, but I will if I have to."

"Fine then, I forfeit. Can't beat you anyway..."

Hayate nodded with his declaration. "The winner of this years Chunin Exams: Menma!" The crowd roared to life, some people even began chanting her name.

Said girl helped her friend up, and her eyes reverted to her normal Sharingan. "We're still friends, right?"

"Yeah. You beat me fair and square, even though you hid some things from me. Now, can you answer my questions without stepping around them?"

"...I'm sorry...I can't." He was about to voice his complaints, but everyone he could consider part of his family came down to the arena.

Mito and Kushina were the first to get to the duo, and they checked over them both. "How is your hearing, you two?" asked the redhead.

"I can hear fine, and if I'm fine she's fine, since we were attacked by Dosu's attack at the same time." he answered.

"That's good to hear. I was worried that you both would have permanent hearing damage."

"...why would you be worried about me?" asked Menma.

"Because you're Sasuke's friend, and Mito's girlfriend. I may not know you as well as they do, but you've proven yourself to be a loyal comrade and companion to them, and I can't thank you enough for that." She walked over to her, and gave her a hug, to her shock. "Congratulations on winning." Kushina let go, and walked away.

Fu took her place, and also hugged Menma. "I knew you were lying about your eyes! You wouldn't let something like that happen to them!"

"I guess you know me too well, Fu."

"Yes I do!" That's when she noticed the forlorn expression she had. "Hey, are you okay?"

"...no, and I don't think I ever will be…" She let go after that, and went to one of the walls, where she placed her forehead on it.

Minato, who was just about to go up to her, stared at Menma, and his fatherly instincts kicked in. "I'm going to see if I can find out what's wrong. She should be celebrating, not looking miserable." His family, and Fu, nodded, and he went up to the girl with similar fashion sense as him. "Hey…"

"Go away…"

He didn't. Instead, the Hokage put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk? Maybe I can help you with whatever is troubling you."

"No...you can't. Just...leave me alone. I need to think by myself."

He frowned. "Okay...but if you ever need someone to talk to, please, remember that Kushina and I are always free. I know that you spent a bit of your life without parents, but we will be there for you whenever you need us." He gave her a pat, and went back to the rest of the group, unaware his words were having a profound effect on the girl.

'Be there for me...whenever I need them? ...lies...lies lies lies lies lies LIES!' Tears started to creep down her face, and she clenched her hands so tightly that blood started trickling down onto the grass. 'I...I don't care anymore! He...he...he...' She formed a Rasengan, and turned to one of the most powerful men on the planet. "YOU BASTARD!" She lept at him, jutsu aimed at his back, but he easily dodged it.

"Menma! What are you doing?!" yelled Mito, getting no response.

"So...my fears were true. You really are working for Konoha's destruction." accused the victim of the attack.

She ignored the accusation, and glared at Minato. "I looked up to you, you know. The legendary Fourth Hokage, nearly singlehandedly defeated the Kyuubi, and was one of the major deciding factors in the Third Shinobi World War, getting the moniker 'Yellow Flash' for his masterful use of the Hiraishin. I was...your biggest fan. I aspired to be like you, I even loved you like a daughter should...and yet you still abandoned me…"

Kushina looked at him. "Minato...what is she talking about?"

"I don't know!"

Howling, crazed laughter came from the dark haired girl. "Oh, don't worry, he would never cheat on you if that's what you're worried about. He would never leave his BITCH!" Her yell got everyone to become wide-eyed, and Mito started to get angry at Menma.

"Don't insult my mom when she hasn't done anything to you!"

"Hasn't done anything?! HASN'T DONE ANYTHING?! She abandoned me too! They are the cause of my problems! They were suppose to be my PARENTS!"

"...what do you mean?"

Again, Menma ignored her. "I was so blind...they never loved me. At the soonest possible moment, they gave up all responsibility! I won't stand for that injustice!" Cracks started to appear on her skin and hair, and she squeezed her eyes closed. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you, Mito! Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Trickster Demon Henge: Kai!" More cracks formed, and pieces began to fall off. After a few seconds, someone similar, yet different stood in Menma's place. She was shorter than Menma, being closer to Kurama's jinchuuriki in height, had remarkably pale skin and hair that was far more controlled, but the extent of control couldn't be measured because of her headdress. It was also of the brightest white, like freshly fallen snow, but the thing that shocked the Namikaze's the most?

Her six whiskers, three on each cheek, and her perfect facial resemblance to Mito.

Kushina cover her mouth. "No way…"

The blonde daughter shook her head. "It...it can't be…"

"Anza…"

* * *

**A.N.: The Chunin Exams have come to a close, and Menma has revealed her real identity. I tried to give hints about...well..._everything_ Anza could do, but I don't think I did enough. I hope I did the fights okay, they are still not my strong suit.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 36**

Sasuke took a step forward. "It...it really is you…"

Anza momentarily calmed down and gave him a warm smile. "It's good to see you again, Sasuke. I...wish it wasn't under these circumstances."

The blonde twin kept shaking her head in disbelief. "C-cut it out, Menma. This...this isn't funny!"

Hurt spread across the whiskered girl's face. "It pains me to see that my own sister doesn't want me to be alive...but I guess it's my own fault, with what I've let happen."

"So...this entire time...I've…you and I have been..."

"Yes."

Minato decided to step in and get to the point, seeing what this revelation was doing to Mito. "Anza...are you trying to destroy the village? Is that why you attacked me?"

She scowled, and it seemed that her canines grew a little longer. "This village is my home! I don't want to see it destroyed, but _you_...oh, you I want to see lying on the ground, bleeding. I want you and mother DEAD."

"Why? I know you said we abandoned you, but we didn't! We loved you, we still love you, with all our hearts, and we searched for you non stop for a week! I even made sensei keep a lookout for any signs of you!"

"AND WHAT GOOD DID THAT DO, HUH?! Oh, right, NOTHING! I was taken by bandits while I was unconscious from my fall, and raped daily!" She squeezed her eyes back shut, but it did nothing to stop her bitter tears. "You should have been able to find me! You should have been able to save me from that hell, but you didn't! You could walk into any country, and they wouldn't do anything because of who you are! For that alone you deserve to die!" In response to her rising anger, a five-tailed shroud formed over her body. "Do you know how many times I called for you? Called for everyone? You, mother, Uncle Jiraiya, Shisui-sensei, Itachi-sensei...no one came to my rescue. Whenever I screamed for help, my only answer was a dick shoved right down my throat. I...was truly alone…but I gained power that I never knew existed." Her eyes changed back into her cracked Mangekyo. "When I realized that you didn't love me, the stress boiled over, maturing and evolving my eyes, and that's when I started planning my escape. I had to wait until my arm healed up, but it was worth the wait. As I've told Mito, I faked crying one night, and when I locked eyes with my captor, I cast Sensu Hen'i on him...he didn't realize it was a trick until I started choking him with the chain around my neck."

His first instinct was to go over to her and hug her, to show that he still cared for his little girl, but his rational side told him she'd just try to skewer his brain if he tried. "Is there any way to end this peacefully?"

"No. I want to kill you, not be all diplomatic about this whole situation."

Kakashi put himself in between the twelve-year old and her parents, and brandished a kunai. "Then you will have to go through me. I may count you as family, but I won't just sit on the sidelines and let you kill my teacher."

The albino clenched her fists. "Kakashi...please...I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to. Don't make me lose another sensei..."

"I don't want to fight you either, but you leave me little choice." A hand rested on his shoulder, and it belonged to the Yellow Flash. "Sensei?"

"Kakashi, stand down, I'll handle this. I want you, Kushina, and Jiraiya to take Mito, Sasuke, and Fu out of the stadium."

"I'm not going anywhere!" yelled his wife.

"Kushina! Please...just...go. I know you could easily handle this with or without me, but let me do this, okay?"

"...okay, I'll go. Beat some sense into her for me, will you?"

"I was already planning on it." He turned to Anza. "Will you wait until the stadium is evacuated?"

"Yes. I don't like killing innocents, not after I escaped from Taki."

The last part of her sentence confused him, but he didn't ask any more. "Thank you." After a few minutes, everyone left the confines of the stands, even the other Kage.

"You know...in my quest to gain strength to kill you, I became so much like you. I learned fuinjutsu to obscene heights, learned jutsus from the Uzumaki, even though in your case it was just fuinjutsu, figured out the Hiraishin, and I've murdered hundreds. I'm even dressed up in a similar fashion, hat and all." At the mention of her Uzukage hat, it vanished into a storage seal. She didn't want it to be damaged in the fight.

Minato rose an eyebrow at a certain part of her comparison. "Hundreds?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. As you know, I ended up in Taki after I inevitably killed all the bandits that held me, and hid from the leader of the village, so he couldn't confirm that I was still alive. After I met Fu and we came up with a plan to get out of there, I fed him a story that I would become a loyal kunoichi and protect Fu with my life if he transferred Chomei to me and didn't contact you. He reluctantly agreed, and that was his last choice as the village head. I killed him right after, and began a rampage, starting by destroying their precious Hero Water. They sent almost every able bodied ninja after me, but they couldn't compare to three tails of power and a fully matured Sharingan. To make matters worse for them, I didn't care if my attacks were aimed at shinobi or not, so civilians got caught in the cross-fire. I regret that I lost control of myself that day, but I can't take it back."

"So that's why Taki went silent...they weren't looking for you, you destroyed their entire system."

"Correct. I couldn't stand how they neglected Fu, who reminded me of Mito, and how little was being done to keep her safe so my rage just...went out of control...like it's going to in a few minutes." Two more tails formed out of her shroud, and she brought up a kunai, cutting her right shoulder. "I'll be the first genin to kill a Hokage...then I'll move onto one of the last Uzumaki."

"I can't let you do that. I won't let you kill Kushina, not as long as I breathe."

"As I said to Gaara, I don't think you get a say in the matter. Now…" Anza quickly summoned Kiba, but not in its dual bladed form. They were conjoined at the hilt, forming a double ended monstrosity. The Blood Forming Seal built her trusty scythe, and she brandished them both, tying chakra chains to them at the same time. "...I think we have something to settle?"

"I guess we do, since you won't simply sit down and talk to me."

"I've been talking this entire time."

"...still as snarky as ever, aren't you?" He brought out his special brand of kunai and threw them across the arena, giving him some points to teleport to.

"I like to think that some things never changed." She started the fight she'd waited three years for by charging at him with her odd weapons, but befitting his status, Minato rather easily deflected both attacks and repelled her. Anza never let up for a moment though, and she continuously hammered him with blows, with none ever truly hitting the mark. 'Damn it, is this all my training amounted to?!' Eventually, he completely stopped her assault and landed a kick on her, giving his daughter a Hiraishin mark at the same time.

"You couldn't beat Orochimaru, or even Kakashi, what makes you think you can kill me?" he genuinely asked.

"I'm not sure, but all I know is that I have to try! I'm sick of being amidst the hate, and to do that I must kill you!" She disappeared in a black flash, and she launched another attack from behind. The only reason he was able to block it was because of his terrific reflexes.

'I forgot that we both can leave markers the moment we touch one another...this just got a little harder.' The snow-haired girl rapidly started teleporting around him, finally managing to get some hits in, and before he could start using the same jutsu to regain the advantage, she batted him away with Solitary Midnight and a tail. As he rolled away on the ground, she let her weapons float with the use of her chains, rapidly formed a Rasengan, used the Hiraishin to appear at the spot he was going to, and stabbed them downward at her father, but he blinked away to safety. "Wow...I can't help but feel pride when I see that you can perform the Hiraishin so well at your age, and you only had my notes to go off of! You were always so smart, but you have broken all expectations."

She landed safely in the new crater. "It's a rather simple concept once you get a hang of it, but I don't need you saying you're 'proud' of me. To me, you're only my father, not the man I once called dad." Two of her tails changed into giant wings, and she formed the tora seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" In comparison to the other one the Fourth saw earlier, this one was about twice his height, and just as wide. The wings fanned the flames, making it hotter and even bigger. Naturally, he dodged it by teleporting to her, but she was ready for him, barely blocking his attacks. She eventually retook the offensive, but every swipe of her blades were deflected and her tails were dodged. Anza just couldn't land a hit anymore, and it was infuriating her to no end. She jumped back after another failed attempt, and snarled. "THAT'S IT! I've had enough of this!" Both her weapons erupted with electricity, and she slashed at the air, sending trails of light at the man responsible for her existence.

'So she's pulling out all the stops now...' He easily avoided the first two, but she started becoming faster and more erratic, sending arcs everywhere that was in his direction. He danced around them and made his way to Anza, but she disappeared, going to one of her markers in the stands.

'This isn't working! Maybe if I attack from all angles?' She grabbed more kunai and threw them at the arena, and she restarted her assault with the Hiraishin. Minato had to use his own version to avoid everything, but if he didn't do something soon, that's all he'll be doing.

'Sorry...but I did promise your mother I'd beat some sense into you!' Waiting until he sensed her back on the arena floor, he moved behind her, formed his signature jutsu, and slammed it into her before she could react.

"GAAAAHH!" she screamed as she spun into the wall, sending debris everywhere.

"It's over, Anza! You can't win!"

She stumbled out of the hole she made, looking as if the jutsu really didn't do much to her. "You think that managing to land one Rasengan on me means this fight is over?!"

"I'm faster and stronger than you. The title of Hokage is not just for show."

"No...no, this fight's not over untill I say it's over. I still have a trump card." A black substance started to form around her, shaping into a bone-like structure. "I haven't used this in battle before, but I have practiced with it for months. Prepare yourself, father, for my ultimate Mangekyo ability...Susanoo!" With her call, the bones continued to grow, first forming a ribcage, then two arms, and finally a skull, with wisps of grey emanating from its very structure.

"...if you're trying to intimidate me, I've fought bigger." He threw a couple kunai at her, but instead of moving out of the way, the giant being hovering around her absorbed the blow, letting the tools bounce off harmlessly.

"Kunai are useless against Susanoo, why else would I be bothering to use it if that wasn't true?" She rushed toward him and threw a bony punch at Minato, which he dodged, but he was forced to retreat when chains joined the mix of attacks.

'Okay, I can't harm her while she's in that...so I have to break it, but how?' Before he could think anymore, she used the marker still on his person to appear above him and try to flatten Kurama's other jinchuuriki, only to have him go to one of his kunai. As the hands touched the ground, deep, wide cracks formed from the impact zone, a testament to the immense strength of the guardian.

"Just stand still!" Five spearheaded chains shot out of her back in an attempt to impale the blonde, but despite their speed, he maneuvered around them, giving him more time to think of a plan.

'...that may work...it would allow me to see the extent of this 'Susanoo's defense.' He rapidly approached Anza while digging into his pouches, and when he slipped through two sweeps of the ghastly apparition's arms, he placed an explosive tag on one of its ribs and cleared the blast zone.

'...fuck me...' The tag exploded, kicking up dirt and spreading ash throughout the air, obscuring the Hokage's vision.

"Looks like I got you...but I wonder how much damage you actually received from that…"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" was his answer, and moved out of the way before he took the full force of the jutsu. Additionally, it cleared the cloud, showing his daughter still hiding beneath her Susanoo, but it didn't come out of that unsacthed. The rib where he placed the tag was pretty much gone, with the ones right above and below it having minor chips in them. "That stung...and you managed to break Susanoo. Unfortunately for you, I'll be keeping an eye out for stunts like that." She de-summoned the entity, brought the conjoined Kiba blades back into her left hand, and let lightning-natured chakra flow through it again. "Since I can't hit you with direct attacks, I'll attack everywhere!" The jinchuuriki of three biju stuck the weapon into the ground, and multiple tendrils of lightning started to cover the area, making Minato throw a Hiraishin kunai into the seating area to avoid the electric bolts. Anza counted on this, and the moment he used the legendary jutsu she used it as well, appearing right next to him. She summoned one half of Susanoo's ribcage and an arm, then grabbed her father with it. "See? _Everywhere_."

"Guh...you...really are a little genius, aren't you? But then again...you are my daughter. Even though you hate me...you make me feel so proud, seeing just how far you've come."

Momentarily, his ethereal prison flickered, but remained as solid as a rock as the snow-haired genin violently shook her head. "Shut up...shut up shut up shut UP! You're praises mean NOTHING to me! They don't! All I want to hear out of you is your screams of pain, and for you to beg me to spare your pathetic life!"

"I'm not sure...I don't think you really want to kill me. You're just...angry at what's transpired in your life, and want to vent out on someone." This earned him a ticket back to the arena, leaving a Hokage-sized hole in the ground.

"Damn right I'm angry! You and mother always told me that you loved me, that you would protect me even when I didn't need your help anymore, and at the most convenient moment, it's like I never existed to you! You even stopped looking! No parent should ever stop looking for their child, no matter how slim the chance of their survival!"

It took a minute for the blue eyed man to work his way out of the ground. "You're right...I should have kept looking. I never should have ended the search, yet when it seemed like you were long gone, I so easily wrote you off. I should have followed the flow of the river to the very end, and sent search parties to every inch of the Land of Fire and it's neighbors...but I didn't. I failed you, and I can't ask for your forgiveness. All I can do now is say...I'm sorry."

"...it's too late for that, father. 'Sorry' won't cut it anymore...but your blood will suffice."

"I don't want to fight you anymore, Anza! Please, let's figure this out as a family!"

"Then just sit there while I gut you like a fish!"

He clenched his fists. 'Damn it, Anza! I'm going to end this before you get seriously hurt! Kyuubi, lend me some of your power!'

His half of the fox huffed. "**Why should I? If she manages to do the impossible and kill you, I'll be free to roam the world again."**

'She'd more than likely transfer you to her, so your hopes would be dashed.'

"**You make a good point...fine, I'll give you some chakra. It'll make this just a bit more amusing."** Minato felt a rush of energy, and the characteristic cloak formed around him, also changing his eyes exactly like when Mito uses it.

"Yes...with this power, I can end this family feud before it escalates out of proportion." Without even using the Hiraishin, he was already in front of her before she could move a muscle, and she couldn't react in time to avoid a punch that sent her careening through the other two stands. Wasting no time, he used the space-time jutsu to appear where she was going to go and hit her back onto the grounds of the field, but he didn't stop, he wanted to finish this battle as quickly as possible. As Anza stood up slightly dazed from the blows, he reappeared in that flash of yellow that she was beginning to despise almost as much as the man himself and continued his assault. In a desperate attempt to block the impossibly fast strikes, she summoned Susanoo's ribcage, but in a matter of seconds it was already cracking and breaking into pieces from the immense force behind the punches. For his final attack, he formed his original jutsu in his left hand and empowered it with the fox's chakra. "Rasengan!" The moment the spiralling technique touched the bone-like structure, it became clear which was stronger. The ribs completely broke, and it barreled through to his daughter, who soon suffered the effects of the jutsu...again. She skidded across the earth, coming to a complete stop just a few feet from the wall, groaning in agony.

'I...I thought…I could take him down...but...I...need more...' She struggled to get up, as Minato watched from a distance.

"Please, there's no need to continue this. Just...let me get you a medic."

"No...no! I've...sacrificed _everything_...I've...I've even ruined whatever I had, or what I could have had, with Mito...I need to make this choice _worth_ something to compensate for that!"

"So you'd rather fight me until you can't move instead of working things out with us?!"

"Yes...but it seems that I can't fight you like this...I have no choice but to go beyond my limits…" Her fully formed chakra cloak started to tighten around her, and blackened into the 'evolved' version. Her arms started to shake, her head violently twitched, and after a few seconds, the pain started to raise, and began screaming. Erratic red chakra poured from her body, solidifying into more tails. Eight...ten...and then it finally stopped at twelve, and she let out one last, blood curdling shriek that tore the ground around her asunder before letting her head hang.

'What the...she's using the other biju at the same time as the Nanabi?! Last time she did that, she couldn't move for several minutes!' "Stop this! You'll only be harming yourself!" His response was Anza slowly lifting her head back up and tilting it too the side, letting the white space that was her mouth widen into a wicked, jagged grin that will haunt his dreams. She barely looked like his daughter anymore...she was more akin to a monster now. Without warning she starting attacking him, and this time he was hard-pressed on the defensive. In this combined transformation, she attacked wildly, and she was _far_ stronger and faster than just a few seconds ago. 'It's like fighting a wild animal...is she even conscious anymore?' Suddenly, a familiar blue ball formed in one of her hands and she tried to smash him over the head with it, but he blinked away, and watched as the jutsu broke up the dirt even more. 'I guess so...' Seeing that she missed and sensing where he was at, she turned to him and let loose a growl.

"I...will...kill you…" A pair of wings replaced two of the tails, and she jumped high into the air, far above the stadium, and faced his direction. Little red and blue particles started to convene in front of her face, forming a dark purple orb. "Even if I have to be caught in the blast radius!"

Minato knew what she was trying to use...and that didn't bode well. 'No...no...not here...' His chakra cloak dispersed, and he began to desperately try to call out to her. "Don't fire! Don't do it, I'm begging you!"

The ball grew more and more, thanks to Anza letting Chomei, Isobu, and Son help in creating this devastating attack. Once it reached around her size, she yelled: "Bijudama!"

"NO!" The Bijudama started to fall towards him...but it was caught by a network of kanji before getting anywhere close to him. 'The new defence barrier that I've been working on...and it works just like I wanted it too...damn it...' The wall of mystical ink rebounded the ball back at Anza at the same speed she fired it at, making her unable to avoid her own jutsu. If she screamed, it was drowned out by the massive explosion that shook Konoha to it's very roots. He saw her body descending, and used the Hiraishin to grab her and bring her back to the ground safely. "No...nononono...why did you have to do that?!" He took a better look at her unconscious form. The skin on her hands and cheeks were burnt off, her haori was in tatters, and an unhealthy amount of blood oozed out of her mouth. He put an ear to her chest, and was ecstatic to hear that her heart hadn't stopped beating and that she was still breathing, albeit it was shallow. 'Hospital! I need to get the hospital!' He teleported to the front entrance and burst through the doors, to the receptionists shock.

"L-Lord Hokage! What do you-oh my god, is that…?"

"I need medics, NOW! Get Tsunade, I know she's here!" No sooner did he say those words was he swarmed by medical-nin, who wrenched his daughter from his arms and rushed to a medical room.

"What...what happened to her?"

"The experimental barrier based on my Hiraishin: Dorai. Instead of simply teleporting an attack to another area I've marked before, it returns it to the sender, hopefully stopping future attacks from the same person. I only tested on a small scale...and Anza...made herself the full scale test subject…" He turned around, and made his way to the door. "I need to let my family know about what's happened. I'll check in after that." He vanished with his statement, leaving the medics to do their job.

* * *

**A.N.: Sorry for the wait on this one. I haven't been feeling the best for the past few days, my head has been feeling like it wants to kill me, and the words didn't come as easily as I hoped.**

**Tsukoblue: Thanks!**

**Deltahalo: You have _no_ idea how much I laughed when you called it so long ago. And, based on what I put in the beginning of this one, yes. Yes she is.**

**Fullmetalalalchemist26: I know I would be...and thank you! I do my best.**

**Sw3X: I have been waiting to make that cliffhanger for _months_.**

**0lightning0: Thank you for the kind words! Don't worry, I will. I've spent way to many hours writing this to just up and leave it.**

**Primrosered: I think you just summed up everyone's reactions, in the story and out here.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 37**

"I can't believe she was here all along...right under noses…" muttered Mito. Her mother, Jiraiya, and Kakashi decided to bring the children back to the house, where they waited to hear word about the fight...or for Anza to break down the door hunting the redhead.

"Me neither...how are you holding up? Finding out that the person you've been dating is your _sister_…" asked Sasuke, who was doing his best to stay composed, but it was hard to when your best friend, training partner, and first crush was still alive after all evidence pointed to her being dead.

"How do you think?!" she snapped, her eyes flickering red.

"Hey, calm down. If you're too agitated, you can't think straight." tried Kushina, but it had no effect.

"Calm down?! She's been lying to me! My twin has been using me right from the start! Our...our relationship was a farce so she could get a chance to kill you, mom! How can you tell me to be calm?!"

"Because I understand _why_ she wants to kill us, and you should too, more than anyone else. Anza believes Minato and I abandoned her...and we did, in a way. We weren't there to bring her back when we should have, and to a nine year old...that's devastating. Please, wait until you hear her side of the story before hating her. Isn't that the least you can do?"

"But that doesn't just make her lying to me okay! She...she knew what she was doing when we started dating, she didn't even try to stop it! Anza tricked me!"

"Maybe so...or maybe-" A large explosion sounded from outside, and the windows in the living started to shake. "Wha...what was that?!" Immediately, she, the Toad Sage, and the one-eyed jonin stood up and burst out of the house, where they saw in the distance a huge cloud right over where the stadium was. "An explosion that we could feel over here...I bet that was Anza, Minato wouldn't use something so strong in the middle of Konoha."

Jiraiya nodded. "I agree...but why was it so high in the air? Surely she would have aimed at Minato instead…"

The realization hit her. "She was…"

Kakashi glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the _other_ project he started? The one that he had me help with and only tested on toys before the Chunin Exams came about?"

"The Deflection Barrier? Are you saying that he set it around the stadium?"

"Yes...and if it worked...that means she was in the air when she did whatever to cause that blast...and was hit by it."

"But something so powerful would severely injure her...this isn't good…"

"No...no it is not…"

Behind them, Minato came out of the other side of his teleport. "Hey…"

His wife turned the fastest. "Minato! What happened? Who's blood is that on you? Is Anza okay?"

"This isn't mine, she barely touched me during our fight, but right when it was about to end, she decided to risk her life by using as much biju chakra as she could. After one failed assault, she jumped into the sky...and fired a Bijudama onto the new barrier. I got her to the hospital, but she's...not doing so well. A lot of blood was coming out of her mouth, I think some of her internal organs are damaged." Due to his close proximity to the front of the house, he hit it out of frustration. "Family shouldn't have to fight family, much less to the death...which she was fully willing to do. Our little girl was willing to die..._just_ so she could have a better chance at killing us, Kushina. How can we fix that?"

She went up to him and wrapped him up in a hug. "I don't know...but we have to try, right?"

"Yeah...come on, let's go inside. If you three are here, then the kids are here, and they need to know about this too." The other three agreed, and they walked back into the house.

**-_a couple hours later, Konoha Hospital_-**

The Hokage and the full-blooded Uzumaki were looking through a small window on a door, looking into the room with their white-headed daughter strapped to multiple medical devices in it. "Tsunade...what was the extent of the damage?"

The Sannin lifted up a clipboard with all medical information on Anza. "Your lucky I was still in Konoha when you got her here. She has multiple internal injuries, which include six broken ribs, a broken right arm, and several ruptured organs. Her chakra coils are also extremely strained, if she were to perform...say...a Great Fireball, she would extend her time being bedridden by three days."

"Damn...but she's going to make it, right?"

"All signs point to it. I'm doing my best to fix her up, and her body is helping with that as well. Her Uzumaki blood is accelerating her recovery. Not as much as Kushina, Mito, or even you now that you have the Kyuubi, but still surprisingly fast. I give her...a week before she's able to walk around. The only thing that worries me though is that she hasn't responded to anything we've done, but it's probably just her body forcing her to rest while it heals."

He nodded in understanding. "Thank you. I wouldn't want anyone else being her doctor."

"It was mainly Shizune who worked on Anza until the blood stopped flowing. Now if you excuse me, I need to continue work on her. She still requires utmost attention." Jiraiya's teammate moved past the married couple and slipped into the room.

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief. "She's going to be okay…"

Fu huffed. "Of course she is going to be fine! It'll take far more than this to kill my sister!"

"So you didn't think at any point she was going to die?"

"Nope!"

He scoffed. "Liar. You looked terrified when Minato told us she was hit by her own Bijudama."

"...you can't prove that."

"I saw you! It's even recorded in my Sharingan!"

"Still can't prove it!"

"Settle down, you two. This is a hospital, you should be a little more quiet for the patients and the medical-nin." said Kakashi.

"Sorry…" they both muttered, and he eye smiled.

"Good. Now, there isn't much else we can do but wait for her to wake up, so I think I should take you back to the house. Is that alright with you, sensei?"

"Sure. I have to see the other Kage off anyway while also getting their recommendations about the chunin hopefuls, and a bird came with a message calling for a meeting with the council, and I want to get that out of the way as soon as possible, so it would be for the best."

"And me and Jiraiya will be in that meeting as well, since the subject is most likely Anza, so could you also stay with them until we come back?" asked Kushina, getting him to nod.

"Of course, not a problem."

The former jinchuuriki saw an opportunity. "Ooh, does that mean you can teach me something?!"

He held his chin in thought. "Hm...no."

"Why not? I'm as good as any genin!"

"Because I don't want to at this time. I only finished doing one on one training for Sasuke three days ago, and I don't want to do it again so soon."

She noticeably deflated. "Aw...I guess I'll just wait until Anza is up and about to take my training to the next level...damn, now I have to get used to calling her Anza instead of Menma...I just got used to that one…" The silver haired man let out a chuckle at her gripping, and like he promised, he took her, Mito, and Sasuke out of the hospital, leaving the pervert sage, his student, and the redhead alone.

"I thought the day we reunited with Anza would have been a happy day. Instead...we get a changed girl, close to the original, but still different in ways we can't even imagine." commented Jiraiya, with a solemn tone.

"Yeah...it seems like yesterday she was a smiling bundle of joy who just got caught pretending to be Naruto with her sister...and now…"

"And now she hates our guts." finished Minato, getting Kushina to sigh.

"I hope we can mend things with her…I want this family to be whole again."

"Me too...me too. Let's get out of here, we still have things to do." They shared one last look into the room, and they followed Kakashi out.

**-_later: Hokage's Office_-**

"You sure you need me here? You can handle those two just fine." asked the former Third Hokage.

"You are part of the council, and this a meeting called by two members of it, so I would say so. Besides, your advice and knowledge have helped me immensely, and I would like your opinion on whatever Koharu and Homura bring up." answered the blonde.

"I see...I can do that. I was hoping for more of that retirement, though…I'm getting too old for this shit."

"Don't worry, this shouldn't take too long." Footsteps sounded from outside, and the door opened, revealing Hiruzen's old teammates...and a certain old war hawk. "Danzo...what are _you_ doing here? I thought I dismissed you from the council."

"Homura and Koharu asked me to be here. They said I could have something worth saying."

"After what you've done, you think I'd listen to you?"

"I don't care what you think of me, I came here to give my advice and be done with it."

"Fine. Take a seat." Since there was only two other seats, Danzo decided to stand, letting his old friends take over the remaining chairs. "Now let's get to the point, why did you call this meeting?"

"Anza, Lord Fourth." said Homura.

Instinctively, he rubbed his temples. "Of course it's the reason, what else would it be?" He sighed, and put his hand back down. "She hasn't been in the hospital even a day and you are already trying to decide her fate."

"She's just too much of a risk."

"Risk to what?"

"Konoha."

He narrowed his eyes. "My daughter is NOT a threat to the village, Homura."

"Isn't she a threat to you?"

"No. When she and I fought, I dominated her. All I got were a few scratches, while she's now in what looks like a coma. She's not a threat to anyone, despite her huge hatred of me and Kushina. And to further my previous point, she said in front of thousands that she wasn't working for the village's downfall, _and_ waited until the entire stadium was evacuated before starting the fight, showing she cares for the innocent men and women of Konoha. Then there's the fact that she subdued Gaara when he was about to go berserk. She could have just sat there and waited for Rasa to do it, but she responded quickly and subverted the threat. As far as I'm concerned, this 'discussion' is over."

"But what about the blatant assassination attempt? Or the deception of her superiors?" asked Koharu.

"Treason of the highest order, punishable by death." answered the bandaged elder before Minato could open his mouth. "Do you see the issue?"

"You're asking me to execute her?"

"Yes. It's the right thing to do."

"What do you mean it's the right thing to do?!" asked an angry mother. "You want to kill a little girl whose only crimes are stealing pills, hiding her status as a jinchuuriki, and a failed attempt at Minato's life?"

"Anza is too consumed by her hatred to want to work in Konoha's best interests, so we need to be rid of her."

"That's your whole argument?! The same one that you made for the Uchiha?! For months she worked for Konoha's benefit, completing any mission Minato gave her team, with the best possible results every time! She even helped free a country!"

"She was manipulating you, earning your trust so she could stab you in the back."

"If I may say something?" interrupted Jiraiya.

"Yes, you may." said Minato.

"Danzo, I'm not entirely sure she was. After she won the exams, she distanced herself from everyone, even Fu, Sasuke, and Mito. When Minato went over to see what was wrong, I used some chakra to hear what they were saying, and she only asked him to go away. In that spot, she had a prime opportunity to kill him there, but she didn't. It was only after he said that he and Kushina would always be there for her that she went off on him. And before that, she could have tried to kill them while they slept, the easiest and quickest way of assassination, but she didn't. I think during the months she masqueraded as Menma, she was also trying to forgive them, but couldn't bring herself to do it when reminded of their 'abandonment'."

"That would make sense...during our match, when she used Susanoo, it seemed to be tied to her emotions, since when I said I was proud of her it flickered as if it was going to disperse, and she looked so conflicted."

"That still doesn't change the fact that she has committed treason." said the one eyed man.

"I think that's enough out of you, Danzo. I know how all three of you feel." He turned to his predecessor. "What do you think should be her punishment?"

"I'm not sure...she _has_ committed treason going by the laws we've established, her rage seems to consume her when it's bottled up inside...but she also has worked hard for Konoha, even saying she's a loyal kunoichi while she tried to kill you. Maximum punishment would be death, and just below that would be life in prison. If you can get her to let go of her hate, then I would say you should give her a parole period, but you are the Hokage now, whatever you say goes."

"...then...I guess this meeting is done. I will _not_ be making any decisions until after Anza has recovered enough to move about."

"We hope you make the correct choice...for Konoha." The elders got up and left at Koharu's statement, and the Yellow Flash let his head hit the desk.

"I _really_ don't like talking to them...they just make everything more stressful."

Hiruzen chuckled. "You're telling me? I've been working with them for the majority of my life. I used to have brown hair before they became my advisors."

"I hope I don't start to rapidly age...anyway, I think the day is over. The sun's setting, so let's all go home. Sensei, Hiruzen, care to join us for dinner?"

The elderly man waved off the offer. "That's kind of you, but I will have to decline tonight. I want to rest after the events of today."

"I understand, so do I. I can't wait to just rest on the couch for a few hours…"

"I'll come over. I won't pass up on an offer of Kushina's cooking." said Jiraiya. With that course of action set, Minato locked up the office for the night, and went home with his father-figure and his wonderful wife.

**-_a few days later: Anza's Mindscape_-**

Most would expect a place that's supposed to hold memories would look like a long twisted corridor where the only definitive way out is up, but when you can go into your mind at any point, you learn how to make it less...soulless. Fake sunlight streamed through giant behemoth trees that you couldn't wrap your arms around, and into the closed eyelids of an unconscious white-haired jinchuuriki. The offending heat forced her to start moving, but not get up. She simply turned her body so that the rays of light didn't hit her eyes, but giant footsteps started to resound around the forest, inching closer and closer to her. 'Guh...fiiinneee...I'll get up...' Groggily, Anza sat up, and rubbed her eyes out of habit. When she took in her surroundings, she was a little bit confused. "I...don't remember going into a forest...last thing I recall is...a giant purple ball...the same one I fired…" The loud *thuds* soon came to a stop behind her, and when she turned, she was greeted with a tall blue beetle, a fiery red ape, and a steel-grey turtle. "Oh, hey Chomei, Son, Iso. That explains where I am."

"**Yes, you goddamn idiot! You're lucky to be alive after sustaining all that damage!"** yelled Chomei, and his mighty voice caused the wind to whip around her, sending her hair into a craze.

"You don't have to yell, you know."

"**I think I do! You weren't even ready for **_**two**_ **biju chakras, let alone three! And you went ahead and used three! Do you realize how much damage has been done to your body because of that?!"**

"No, care to fill me in?"

"**Um...I'm not very good with human anatomy...but I DO know that with that three-fold...let's call it 'version two' cloak put a MASSIVE strain on your coils. I tried to shrink them, but I kinda...maybe made it worse, so it'll probably be a few days before they go down to 'normal' size."**

"That sounds bad...but I'm probably not going anywhere for awhile, since I'm sure the Bijudama did some extreme trauma to my body."

The Yonbi raised a brow. "**You think? You've been knocked out for **_**days**__._"

"Oh...well...I hope I haven't had to use the bathroom...I'm going to try to wake up now. If I can't, then I'll probably just reappear here. See you...whenever." Her body visible started to fade, then Anza was gone from the 'biju sanctuary'.

"**...I'll race you guys to the ocean.**" voiced the beetle.

"**If you fly again, I swear by our holy father…"**

"**Hey, you use the branches as swings! And Isobu can roll into a ball! It's a fair race!"**

"**...I think he's gone already."**

"**What?!"** The Nanabi looked around, and his other brother was indeed already rolling away in a cloud of dust. "**No fair!"** The two went after him, in a race that would cause untold calamity onto tree kind.

**-_Konoha Hospital_-**

This time, there was _real_ light to disturb the girl from her sleep. Her purple orbs opened, and was momentarily blinded by the brightness in the room. 'Yep...it's a hospital...go figure…' In a test to see what was damaged, she tried to move her arms, only finding the one on the left to move at her call. 'Great...right arm broken _again_...'

"What the...hey, you're awake!" an excited male voice said from her left, and Anza barely could turn her head to see the boy sitting in a guest chair.

"S-Sas...uke?" Her voice was surprisingly raspy, a sure sign that Son was right about the 'days' thing.

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit...but then again, I took my...most powerful jutsu right in my face...is this a mask?"

"It's suppose to help you breathe. You were having some trouble when you first got here."

"I bet…" They settled into an awkward silence, neither really knowing what to say. "So...how...how's Mito?"

"Not...well. She's really angry at you."

"I figured as much...there's...probably nothing I can do to have her forgive me."

"What were you thinking, deciding to date your sister _willingly_? You must have known it was going to, at the very least, confuse her."

"I knew...but at the time...I needed a way to not reveal myself, and her believing I had a crush on her gave me the perfect way out...but sometimes...when you pretend something is real...it takes a life of it's own."

Puzzlement was easily readable on the Uchiha's face. "What do you mean?"

"I know what I feel...and it shouldn't belong in my heart...but it does, and I can't change it. Mito...isn't just my sister anymore, not to me. She's...the object of my affection." She let out a sigh. "Not like it matters anymore...in a few days, I'll be gone. I'll either be executed or locked up in the tightest cell for all of eternity."

"What are you talking about?! Your dad won't let either of those happen!"

"Sasuke...listen to me. What I tried to do was _treason_, and the people _will_ call for my death. They love their Hokage too much to let anyone live after a failed assassination."

"But your dad-"

"'But my dad' nothing. He knows what I've done to countless people, and I'm going to be punished for it...whether or not I'm able to fight it. Please...stop trying to say otherwise."

He grit his teeth, but relented. "Fine. I'm going to go, I really shouldn't be here."

"Why? Are people not allowed to visit me?"

"No, it's just not visiting hours. I snuck in through the window." He pointed to said window, and it was pushed up all the way. "I'll visit another day, I just wanted to make sure you were real. Bye." He jumped out of the room and into the village below.

Underneath the clear mask, she smiled. "Heh...we're still friends...even after all these years…"

**-_later_-**

The clicking of the door woke Anza up from her light nap. 'More medics? I thought they said they wouldn't come back to check on me for a few hours? It's only been a few minutes...I think...' It fully parted, and her beloved twin was the reason for the disturbance. "Oh...hey, Mito." The blonde didn't say 'hi', or 'hey', or even 'how are you feeling', she just took a seat in the room, with her hair casting a shadow over her eyes.

"I want you to tell me something. Why did you lie to me?"

"I...take it you mean about who I was?" She nodded. "Because...I wanted to kill mother and father. I knew that if I succeeded, you would hate me, and maybe...if I pretended to be someone else, it would lessen the blow."

"Do you realize how much I missed you? How much Sasuke missed you?"

"Of course...but I didn't want to grow attached to you two again, it would make my decision harder...and it did. I didn't know what to do during the finals. Should I make my move, or should I not? Obviously...I chose the latter."

"So everything was based around your desire to kill our parents? Did I mean _anything_ to you besides a statistic?!" Her voice was starting to rise, despite her attempts at staying calm.

"What are you saying? You mean more to me than anyone…"

"I don't think that's true! You blatantly lied to me about everything! You used me to get close to mom and dad, and as soon as you had a crowd, you tried to kill them!"

"Please...don't think I used you. Maybe at the beginning I lied about my feelings...but that's not how it is anymore."

"And how would I know?! All you've been doing ever since you came back is _lie_! I can't trust a word that comes out of your mouth!"

"Mito...please...if you have to believe only one more thing I have to say, than let it be this: I know it's a strong word...but I love you, and not just like a sister would. You mean the world to me, and I know I've hurt you, but I hope we can move past this."

Mito shook her head. "I don't think we can. I thought I could have faith in you, but in only a day you've shown that no one can trust you. I...I thought there was a future for us, but it was all fake." She stood up, and made her way to the door. "I can't be here anymore, I'm about to lose it. Good bye, Anza." She left the room, nearly slamming the door as she went.

Anza felt a coldness creep into her heart. 'No...please...don't leave me like this...don't...' A tear escaped from her eye. 'Not when I'm so close to death...'

Chomei could feel the sadness that his jinchuuriki was letting out, and tried to console her. "**I'm sorry, Anza. I know how much she means to you, and for her to just...be so cold to you..."**

'...I poured my heart out...and she stepped on it as if it was a lowly ant...and I'm going to die...no...no, I won't let them. Chomei...give me a rough estimate on how long until my chakra coils are in usable condition.'

"**Uh...I think three more days, with the medics using that healing jutsu. Why?"**

'Good! Because soon...we're leaving. Fuck my parents, fuck Mito, fuck everyone! I won't just sit here and let everyone take shots at my choices in life, or let them have the satisfaction of killing me!'

'**I...I think she snapped...' "Are you...okay?"**

'I'm fine! Just prepare for that night...there is _one_ thing left for me here...and we're taking it.'

-_three days later, night_-

Anza waited until midnight to begin her escape. For a few minutes, she listened for the sounds of medical-nin's footsteps, and when they lowered to a desirable level, she tore off the mask and pulled the tubes to the equipment out of her body. 'Arm's a little sore, but it's not broken to the point I can't use it anymore. Heh, Tsunade helped me in my escape, even if she doesn't know it. Now, I need to look around for a seal. I vaguely recall father stopping by yesterday, so that means he must have considered the possibility that I could try to escape.' Moving her legs off the edge, she tried to get up, but as she hadn't walked in almost a week, she promptly fell to the floor in a white heap.

"**You're not escaping if you can't walk."** reminded the monkey, getting her to scoff.

'I know! Just give me a minute!' Using the guest chairs as support, she pushed herself onto her shaky legs, and took the next few minutes regaining the ability to maneuver around. 'Okay, I think that's enough. Now...if I was a seal, where would I be...'

"**How 'bout under the bed?"**

'Nah, that would be too easy...right?'

"**Check it, it's probably there."**

She did, and he was right. 'Holy shit...that would have been the last place I would have looked. Thanks, Son!'

"**You're welcome**."

'Okay, need to make a counter...it's an even number seal, so all I have to do is write an odd number one...easy enough.' Anza bit her left index finger and wrote the counter, making the room glow in kanji before each one shattered in a quiet downpour. 'Gotta move...someone might have seen that.' Squirming out from under the bed, she used one of the Hiraishin markers she put around the village, ending up on the front doors of the orphanage. 'Haruka...I won't let them take you from me...' As stealthy as one would expect out of a trained kunoichi, she snuck in, avoided opening the door to the Uchiha's room by using a shunshin, and eased her way to the six-year olds bed. "Hey, Haruka…" She nudged her. "Hey, wake up for a sec…"

"M-Menma? What are you doing here so late?"

"Close enough. I came to ask you a question."

The Uchiha rubbed her eyes, and sat up. "What is it?"

"I would like to know if you would be interested in going on a trip with me? I'd train you so you wouldn't get bored."

"You would?!"

Anza hurriedly placed a finger on the child's lips. "Be quiet. I don't want the others to hear."

"Oh...but yes! Where are we going to go?"

"Hopefully many places...but I think we'll start with...the Land of Waves."

"Then let's go! I'll start packing, and-"

"You don't need anything, I'll provide for your stuff on the trip. Now…" She scooped Haruka up into her arms. "Stay as quiet as you can. Think of this as your first mission." The little girl nodded, and Anza left the orphanage. In only a few minutes she made it to the wall, almost home free...but like everything else in her life, something went wrong.

"Halt. You're not suppose to be out of the hospital." a voice called from her left, and she turned to see an owl faced Anbu, whose hand was already on his tanto.

"I was allowed to leave today, but I feel asleep, so I got out a little late."

"I would have been notified by the Hokage if that was true."

'Shit, can't convince him to leave me alone...so...' "Haruka, I'm going to put you down for a minute. Don't look at the man in grey, and make sure your eyes stay closed. Don't open them until I say so, okay?"

"Okay…" Once she put her down, Anza checked to see if she still had the seal for her katana, finding it intact, and brought it out. Before the Anbu could tell her to stop this course of action, she also summoned a kunai with her mark on it and threw it between his legs, landing only a few inches behind him. Teleporting to him, she brought her sword up to his neck and cut it in one swift motion, ending the man's life.

She put it back in the seal, and went back to the Uchiha she saw as a little sister. "Are you ready to continue the journey?"

"Yes...but I'm tired…"

Anza picked her up, and put the other girl on her back. "Then go to sleep there. Don't worry, I won't drop you."

"Thank you…" Haruka went limp, and the daughter of the Hokage jumped off the wall and into the forest, but she turned to look at the village one last time.

'I'm sorry Fu...I won't be able to take you with me. They are probably keeping an eye out for me around the house just in case I did escape the hospital, and I can't fight an army of Anbu. We...probably won't see each other again…and for that...I'm deeply sorry. Maybe...you'll find me again one day. I hope so, because I'm going to miss you...' She turned away, and left the village she considered her home.

**-_the next morning, Hokage's Office_-**

Minato was doing his duty as Hokage, which, at this time, solely consisted of doing paperwork. 'Seriously?! A stink bomb in the women's restroom?! Why is this even an issue for the Hokage to look at?! Shouldn't the owner of that particular restroom be the one getting this?! ...oh. It happened in the Academy, so technically _I_ am the owner...never mind.' Suddenly, the doors to his office flew open, and three very worried people were in his presence.

"Lord Hokage, Anza has gone missing!" yelled Tsunade.

"What?!"

"Lord Hokage, Haruka has gone missing as well!" yelled Sasuke.

"What?!"

"Lord Hokage, Owl has been found dead on the wall!" the final person, a boar faced Anbu, shouted.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!"

* * *

**A.N.: Aaand Anza's gone. Again. I wasn't sure if I should have split this up into two chapters, seeing as Anza herself has just made a reappearance, but I decided to just get to her escape. **


	38. Chapter 38

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 38**

The Fourth Hokage had a sullen look as he sat in front of a small contingent of shinobi, consisting of everyone that participated in the Chunin Exams, their senseis, some other chunin and jonin, and Kushina, who looked just as depressed as her husband. "I bet most of you are wondering why I've called you here?" Minato opened, voice not betraying his facial expression.

"Just a little bit, yeah!" yelled the Inuzuka heir.

"Well, you're curiosity will be sated. Two nights ago, someone kidnapped Haruka Uchiha, one of the survivors of the Uchiha Clan Massacre."

"Haruka? Who would kidnap her?" wondered Mito.

"I'll be getting there in a bit. On the same night, someone escaped from the hospital, and an Anbu who went by Owl was murdered, leaving _this_…" He opened a bag he had on the desk, and brought out a kunai with a familiar 'blink' written vertically on the handle. "As the only piece of evidence. And if I bring this out…" In the same bag, he brought out a perfectly identical kunai. "...you can see the resemblance. The one I just brought out is one of the few kunai thrown by my daughter during our battle."

"Wait...are you saying…"

"Yes, Mito. Anza...is now officially an A-Rank missing-nin. I have sent word to our allies, and had no choice but to put her in the bingo book."

"What are you thinking?! Someone's going to hunt her down and kill her!"

"I full well know the risks of putting her name in the bingo book, but I only put in a reward for her _capture_, not for her body."

"That won't stop Iwa! You should have kept this local, and give only our ninja the mission to find her! No, give it to me, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, her teammates! I need to make things right with her!"

Kakashi nodded. "She's right, sensei. Anza is technically my responsibility as my student, so the mission to find her should belong to me and the remnants of Team Seven."

"And I agree with that, but we have no idea where she could be. For all we know, she could be international, so we need those extra eyes and ears."

The cyclops eyed the sharp tools. "Sensei...maybe _I_ can find her."

"Your ninken?"

"Yes. Pakkun has the strongest nose out of them all, it would be child's play for him to track her."

He nodded, remembering the dog. "Alright, here." Minato tossed the kunai found at the crime scene to the last remaining member of his genin team. "Might want to go to the south wall when you start the mission. That's where Owl and the kunai were found, it might be easier to pick up her trail."

"Thank you. You heard him, let's go!"

"Yes!" shouted both his genin, and they left the mission assignment area.

The Yellow Flash looked at who was still with him. "The rest of you: I know it goes without saying, but if you see or hear anything about Anza's possible whereabouts, you come to _me_ first. Dismissed!" The ninja thinned out, leaving him, his wife, and a small battalion of hidden Anbu all that were left in the room.

"I want to go with them…" Kushina sighed. "...but all I'd do would draw Anza's ire, leading her to do anything in her power to kill me, and that could end her life…"

"I know...what I'd give to have everything back to the way they used to be, with Anza and Mito chasing each other around the house like their butts were on fire...those were the good days…" He gave a sad smile, knowing that he could never go back to that time. 'It's up to you three now...Kakashi, Mito, Sasuke...bring her back to us.'

**-_with Team Kakashi_-**

"Okay, we've reached our destination. The clean-up crew did a wonderful job, there's not even a drop of blood left...or we could be in the wrong spot, either way works."

"So...who's Pakkun? I know about your ninken, but I don't think I've met that one before." asked the blonde.

"You have, it's just been around...eight years since you've seen him. Now, we probably should get started." Bringing out his own kunai, he cut open his thumb, and placed his hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu." A puff of smoke appeared in front of him, and after it dissipated, showed a small brown pug wearing a blue vest, a Konoha forehead protector, and had bandages wrapped around his front right paw.

"Hey, Kakashi. It's been awhile since you've summoned me. Does that mean there's someone you need to find?" His voice was surprisingly deep, betraying his tiny frame.

"Yeah. You remember Anza, right?"

"Of course. Wait...does that mean she's alive?"

"She is, but she's a missing-nin now, and we don't know where she's gone. That's where you come in. Here…" He brought out the marked kunai. "Sniff this, it should have just enough of her scent to lead us in the right direction."

"I can do that." Pakkun walked up to his summoner, and took a whiff of the small weapon. "It'll be hard to lose _that_...I can smell her and hints of beetle, monkey, and turtle, all mixing together to make a unique fragrance." He turned to the forest and jumped off the wall.

"I guess he's got her…" muttered the Uchiha, and they took off after the dog...but they didn't go very far, just about a hundred meters, before stopping behind a tree.

"Yeah...we've got a situation...the scent's gone."

Kakashi didn't like the sound of that. "What?"

"I can't smell her anymore. It ends right here, and I can't smell a distant fragment, either."

He pinched his nose. "That means she used the Hiraishin...damn, that means she could be anywhere."

"Then...what do we do? We can't just go back and say we only traveled a stone-throw's away before losing her!" said Mito.

"Hm...we could try to figure out where she went, but it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint her location without a way to feel her chakra from so far away…"

"We have to try." Sasuke took a seat on the ground, and his team joined him with brainstorming. "Okay...if we consider everything, she couldn't have gone to a very dangerous place. Haruka doesn't have any training, and Anza hasn't recovered enough to actually _fight_ at the level she's used to, so it would be difficult to hold off enemy shinobi."

"That basically would throw out every country...we also need to consider when she learned the Hiraishin, since she could only put markers afterward. If my memory is correct, she might have one in the Land of Whirlpools, the Land of Water, the Land of Earth, definitely the Land of Fire...and the Land of Waves."

"We should probably check out the Land of Waves, then. It's the least dangerous for them, it would take at least a day to get there at max speed, and there is enough uninhabited space for her to hide in while she heals."

"It's worth a shot. Pakkun, I'm going to need you to stay with us for the time being. Let us know if you pick up her scent again." The dog nodded, and they continued southward, to the country they helped freed.

* * *

The team finally made it to the bridge that Tazuna built, but they had to stop momentarily to gawk at the sign bearing its name. "Wow...that's...quite an honor." stammered the jonin.

"'The Great Bridge of Team Kakashi'...that's kind of Tazuna, but he didn't have to…" said Mito.

"Maybe he felt like he did? I mean, last time we were here people were chanting our names after Gato was killed." reasoned the raven-haired boy.

"That's true...we should probably stop standing here and wasting time. Neither Pakkun or I can smell her across such a large stretch of water with so much traffic." said Kakashi.

"Right." All four of them became blurs bounding across the large construct, making it across in record speed.

"Oh wow...it looks a lot better than when we left…" commented the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. As far as they could see, the old, run down buildings were in much better shape, almost looking new. Food stands didn't have rotten and decaying food as part of the line up, new stores were open for business, and people conversed on the streets, a large turn around from Gato's iron-clad rule.

Pakkun's nose began twitching, and he sniffed the air. "It looks like we made the right choice. I have her scent again, follow me!" The small dog ran past them and weaved through the citizens, leading Team Seven through back alleys, past a few of the new stands, and finally to a rather large, two-story house. "Here. Her and what I can only guess is this 'Haruka's trail leads inside here and back out, and it seems occupied, so whoever lives here has seen them."

"Then let's say hello, shall we?" Kakashi went up to the door and knocked four times.

"Hold on, hold on, I'm coming!" he barely made out with chakra enhanced ears, and footsteps started making their way towards him. Once they were close enough, the door opened, revealing a familiar old man. "Kakashi?!"

"Tazuna?"

The bridge builder took his hand and started shaking it. "It's good to see you again, old friend! Come in, come in! You must be tired from the journey here!" He let go and walked back into his house, leaving the ninja at his doorstep. The cyclops looked at his genin, shrugged, and followed their old client inside, where they settled into what looked like the living room.

"You seem to be doing well for yourself." he commented.

"All thanks to you and those kids. After using the money Menma pilfered from Gato, we were able to reopen and establish new trades, and the revenue started to come back ten-fold. When your Hokage finalized our alliance, people started requesting my services, forcing me to start moving place to place to do the projects. I just got back about four days ago. Speaking of Menma, where is she? Inari has been waiting patiently for that visit she promised him."

"Um...about that...Tazuna, I need to know, has anyone..._unusual_ stopped by your house in recent days?"

The older man narrowed his eyes, not seeing what this had to do with Menma, but nodded. "As a matter of fact, yeah. Two nights ago, someone knocked on my door furiously while my family and I were sleeping, and when I opened the door...I'm not going to lie, I thought Mito over there was at my doorstep. This girl had the same hair, same face, same height, the only things different were her hair and eye color, the whisker-like things on her face, and the overly white clothes she wore. She had a young, sleeping girl on her back, and asked if she could have some clothes and a bag of food that would last a few days. I asked if she was Mito, since she looked almost just like her, but she responded by saying she had no idea who that was, and again asked if she could have some clothes and food, as she didn't pack any for her journey. I caved, and let her into the house, where I got the things she wanted, and she left with a 'thanks'. The strang_er_ thing is, she payed for it all! Pulled about two-thousand ryo out of thin air!"

He sighed. "I guess you haven't heard the news...not surprising, we tried to keep this in Konoha as long as possible. Tazuna, who you helped out _was_ Menma. It turns out, Menma was Mito's long-thought dead twin sister, which explains the resemblance, and tried to kill their parents, but was stopped by their father, who is, as you know, the Hokage. After staying in the hospital a few days, she escaped, kidnapped that girl you saw on her back, and killed one of our Anbu. We're trying to find her and take her back to Konoha now, which is why we're here. We followed an idea by Sasuke, and it turns out to have been the right thing to do."

Tazuna noticeably looked shocked. "I...I'm sorry...if I'd known, I would have sent word about my encounter."

"It's fine, we can find her now. It's only one island, she can't escape unless she continues to overwork her chakra coils." He turned to Mito. "Can you feel her, by any chance?"

"Kind of. Fuzzball says he can feel Chomei and the others in the forest, but that means she can feel ME, as well."

"Then we could be running out of time." He looked at Tazuna again. "I'm sorry that we have to cut this short, but we need to bring Anza back to the village before she goes off the radar completely. Tell Tsunami and Inari we said 'hi' when you see them again."

"I will. I hope your mission goes well."

"So do I, Tazuna...so do I. Let's go, Team Seven. We need to apprehend our wayward comrade."

"Yes!" The more energetic two shouted in agreement, and the makeshift team left Tazuna's new house and into the nearby forest, where Anza's trail led.

* * *

"It's been awhile since we've been here, huh?" asked Mito to her leader, getting him to nod.

"Yes...who would have thought she would have came back to the place we killed Zabuza?"

"The cross is a new addition, though...it looks a little old, as if it's been here for awhile. To honor Zabuza, I guess? But who would place something like this for him?" commented Sasuke.

"I don't know, but that's not what we're here for. Mito, how close is Anza?"

"She's not too far, and she doesn't seem to be moving anywhere. Maybe she's given up?"

"'Anza' and 'give up' don't belong in the same sentence, and you know it."

"Can't we hope, Sasuke?"

"I wish we had that luxury, but like it or not, she at least won't come back without a fight. It's who she is. If she won't give up fighting against _Minato_, what makes you think she would give up against _us_?"

"I know...I'm just being optimistic…"

Unbeknownst to them, someone was spying from the trees. 'So...that's him, huh? Kakashi of the Sharingan...he's very skilled, I wouldn't be able to fight him. I might be able to take one of the younger ones down, but there's just too many...'

Pakkun's nose twitched thanks to a gust of wind, which also had the unfortunate character's sent riding on it. "Kakashi…"

"I know." The sensei of the team turned to the dense forest, directly facing the person's direction. "You don't have to hide! We're friendly!"

'Well, their knowing of my presence won't do them much good...but I should go back before they decide to use force.' The spy made a single hand sign, and they were gone, which Kakashi felt.

"Hm...they're gone. They must not want to say 'hello'. I wonder who they were...it wasn't Anza, that much I know, but they must have shinobi training to vanish like that...ah well, nothing we can do about it now. Mito, we're going to still be going in the same direction, right?" She nodded. "Then let's not give her anytime to run." They jumped onto the branches, and hopped their way farther south.

After a few minutes of travel, they made it to a sandy beach, with a very defining structure adorning it. A large purple dome-shaped building, with a single hinged door on the front of it. "There. I feel her in there...with...two others? But...I thought only Haruka was with her?"

"It doesn't matter, we need to go in there and apprehend her. Stay behind me." The jonin jumped back down, and made his way to the entrance. He brought up his leg, charged it with a little chakra, and kicked the door down. "Your time running is-huh?" There was no one inside the un-furnished building, only a large amount of seemingly created recently smoke. In an effort to understand what just happened, he walked into it, with the genin and his summon following him.

"I...I can't feel her anymore! She's out of my range!" exclaimed Mito.

"Damn it, she used the Hiraishin! We'll never find her now!" yelled the Uchiha.

"No...I don't think that's what happened. The Hiraishin doesn't make this much smoke, if at all. A shunshin? That can't work either, she would still be sensible by Mito...wait, what's that?" From the light streaming in from the open door, he spotted kanji arranged in a circle, with lines of markings stretching out from the center. "_(Sigh)_ Well, that explains what happened…"

"What? What did she do?"

"She used the Summoning Jutsu to transport herself, Haruka, and that unknown signature to a place where summons can be found."

"But how does that work? I thought the Summoning Jutsu was suppose to...well, summon animals?"

"It does, but you if don't have a contract and use the jutsu, you will be transported to the home of which animal you have an affinity for. Anza must have known this, probably from stories told to her by Jiraiya, and performed it, taking the other two with her through physical contact."

"So it's over now?! She's gone, and we won't be able to find her?!"

"Yeah, Sasuke. Unless she has gone to the toads, the mission is a failure. We were...just too slow. Let's go, the Hokage needs to know this as soon as possible." Seeing that they had no other option at this point, the children followed his word, and they began the long journey back.

When Minato saw that Team Kakashi came back by themselves, his heart sank. "I take it you couldn't find her."

"Not exactly, sensei. We were able to locate her through the process of elimination and some luck, but she fled before we could capture her." reported Kakashi.

"Damn...and I can't use the Hiraishin to get to her without starting a battle to the death...where did you find her? Give me the details."

"The Land of Waves, on the far end. She set up a temporary residence made out of some strange purple substance that was big enough to house three people, but little else."

"Then I will send an extra team to keep an eye out for any signs of her returning to that place. Despite the mission being a failure, don't let this keep you down. Anza's still out there, and we WILL find her, and she WILL be brought back, no matter what."

"We won't, dad. We're just...disappointed we couldn't get them when we were so close! If only she hadn't used the Summoning Jutsu to escape, she would be in front of you with us."

"The Summoning Jutsu?"

His student nodded. "Yes. Right before I kicked down the door to her abode, she used it to transport herself, Haruka, and someone else to relative safety. They most likely won't make a reappearance for a while, as she still needs to heal."

"Right...well, if that's all that happened during the mission, then you are all dismissed. I'll see you at home, kids." They bowed, and vanished out the doors. Sighing, he stood up, and walked over to the window, where he looked over the village. 'Anza won't slow down...if there's anything to improve, she will work for it, and she already is leaps and bounds ahead of Mito and Sasuke...they will have to train harder than they ever have in order to match her...and I will do whatever I can to help them with that. Starting tomorrow...at least one will be learning how to summon beings.'

* * *

**A.N.: Sorry, this _should_ have been released yesterday, but I had to go through and delete one-third of it and then rewrite said section, so...yeah. **

**0lightning0: It _is_ called 'Amidst the Hate' for a reason.**

**Tsukoblue: Again, thank you.**

**Deltahalo: No! Bad delta, not THAT kind of training!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 39**

Everything looked the same. No matter where she went in any direction, all Mito could see were trees. There was no life to be seen, no crickets making that annoying sound, no owls hooting in the night, and no rodents scurrying up to the branches. It was as if all things with blood pumping through their veins were transported to another world, or exterminated. 'Maybe...I'm the last person on Earth?' she wondered as she aimlessly walked between the towering plants. 'Fuzzball? Are you there?' The familiar grumble never shook her skull, and when she searched for Kurama's chakra, she never found the wonderful warmth that came with it. She was...all alone. 'Is...is this what Anza felt after she killed those bandits? It's...horrible.' The blonde marched on though, trying to find the end of this maze. It felt like hours passed, but eventually, the trees started to thin out, giving way to a similarly boundless, moonlit field, and finally to a cliff with a full view of a scarily large moon...and someone was sitting on the edge.

"So...you've finally come. I was wondering when you'd get here." The white clad girl called out to her over her shoulder, as if Mito's presence wasn't that big of a deal.

"Anza…"

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it? The moon looks so pretty up close...but I can't get any respite. Just looking at it makes me feel...agitated, like it's very existence offends me...or scares me, I don't know. Chomei, Son, and Iso don't like it either..." She sighed. "Why am I talking to you? Last time we conversed, you broke my heart."

"I...I know...but I was so angry at you, I didn't want to listen to a word you said. Can...can we try to talk again?"

"What's the point? You just would believe everything I say is a lie."

"That's not true…"

"That's all that comes out of my mouth, remember?"

"Please Anza...come back home with me. We...we will clear all charges! You won't be considered a criminal anymore!"

Anza just shook her head. "I can never go back...I won't be accepted. No one will understand why I've done what I've done, no one will try to. I tried to kill their beloved Hokage, that's all they will see. Konoha...can't be my home anymore. And besides...I don't want to look at you ever again." She stood up, and faced her sibling, Mangekyo spinning to life. "I hate you, I hate you with every fiber of my being. You threw _everything_ away, even our blood bond. I gave you my heart, and you crushed it beneath your heel. You deserve to die just as much as mother and father...and you're right here in front of me." The whiskered twin summoned her katana, blade unsheathed, and it began to glow red. Once the center became white-hot, it exploded into flames that Mito could swear she could feel from her spot forty feet away. "Today, you will know the cold hand of death. The Shinigami will love your sour soul." Anza rushed forward, and Mito barely dodged her slash, the flames licking at her clothes.

'She's...she's going to kill me if I don't do something!' Reaching into the pouch strapped to her right leg, she brought out a kunai and began deflecting her twin's attacks, but she underestimated how hot the blade really was as her kunai started to rapidly heat up, and when you hold onto hot metal, it starts to burn your hand. It soon became too much for her, forcing her to drop and replace it.

"You can't beat me, so why try? You said it yourself...I'm better than you in every way." She gave a powerful downward slash, which Mito deflected at the cost of her balance. "I'm stronger than you." Before the blonde could regain her stance, Anza landed a scalding cut onto her shoulder. "I'm faster than you. And…" In her open hand, she formed their father's jutsu almost instantly. "...I'm smarter than you ever could be!" Slamming it into her chest, Kurama's jinchuuriki flew backward, skidding and rolling across the ground. "There is nothing you can do, no action can be taken to stop me. You. Will. Die."

Mito stood back up, shaken and injured. "Stop! We don't have to fight!"

"On the contrary...you have hurt me harshly, so I must eliminate you from this world. Now...pray for mercy to your god, for I will give none." The Mangekyo user formed another Rasengan, and the flames on her sword grew larger and hotter. She charged at her sister again, but right before she could be hit, Anza and the blades of grass froze, like someone pressed the pause button.

"It doesn't have to be this way…" a disembodied voice echoed through the cliff face.

"What? Who's this?"

"You can still fix things with your sister! There's still time to change things!"

"You haven't answered my question!"

"Who I am doesn't matter! I don't even know how I can speak to you, but listen to me: you can still get her to come back to her family, her friends!"

"And how can I do that? She...doesn't want to be around us anymore…"

"You have to show her that everyone, even the people she believes hurt her, still care for her. At least...I think that'll work? I wasn't in this exact position…"

"But my dad tried that, and it didn't work."

"Then try it again! You can't stop after only one try! And if that truly can't work...then you must beat her into submission, and drag her back to the people that love her. Not my favorite way to do things, but sometimes you have to do things you don't like."

"That's how it's probably going to be, us fighting each other...but what's going on?! How was Anza attacking me, then all the sudden stop moving?!"

"Isn't it obvious? This is a dream, albeit one that you have cognitive function in. Those are usually rare, but I kinda forced you to have one. I needed to tell you these things so you could hopefully avoid a fate like the one you just witnessed."

"Okay...but why do you care? I know you're not fuzzball, you sound nothing alike, so tell me who you are!"

"I...guess I'm what you can call your 'conscious', but I'm not quite that. I'm my own person, and to answer your question as to 'why'...I...just like to help others. Can't do much of that _now_, but I CAN help _you_. Now...I think it's time for you to wake up." The dream blacked out, and the young girl could feel that her eyes were closed, so she opened them, and she was back inside her room...her rather dark room.

'What time is it?' Mito turned her head to look at the alarm clock, and found out that it was five past six. 'That bastard! He woke me up at Academy hours!'

A deep, loud yawn shook her head. "**Why are you shouting internally? I was having a wonderful dream, full of beautiful vixens, bountiful prey, vast fields of green, and no humans in sight…"**

'Oh...sorry, fuzzball. I had a strange dream. I was in a seemingly endless forest, then a seemingly endless plain, then I met Anza on a cliff. We fought...well, it was more like me getting slapped around, but before she could kill me, some guy froze everything, and then we talked. He sounded nice, told me that we can still get Anza back, and went through how I can do that.'

"**So what were this man's words of wisdom?"**

'Uh...the thing is...he pretty much repeated the things we've tried to do, and the thing we are probably going to do: fight her.'

"**...this man was no help at all, was he?"**

'Yeah...but it really seems like he wants me to repair our relationship.'

"**Hm...well, I don't know what to say except to not let it take over your thoughts at this time. Since it was a dream, everything inside it is a figment of yourself, so this 'man' was probably just the part of you that's dedicated to the retrieval of Anza, or some shit. If something similar happens again, **_**then**_ **take notice."**

'Will do.' She went back to eyeing the clock. 'I won't be able to go back to sleep...might as well go get breakfast and turn on the TV for a bit.' The blonde threw the covers off of her bed and quietly made her way downstairs, getting a bowl of her favorite cereal, and took a seat at her spot on the couch. After two hours by her lonesome, the first signs of life throughout the house made themselves known when Minato, with a severe case of bed head, dragged himself down the stairs. Hearing the audio coming from the living room, he decided to go there first before starting the coffee machine, and was surprised to see his daughter.

"Mito? What are you doing up so early? You usually don't like waking up before ten when it's normally your off day."

"I woke up at six, actually. A voice that was in my dream forced me to...somehow. Before you ask, it wasn't Kurama."

The Hokage walked over and sat down next to her. "I've had things like that happen. One minute I'm in the middle of an important mission, and then when I use the Hiraishin, I'm back in the bed, like it was a portal to and from my imagination."

"Yeah, but this was...weirder. It seemed to create, or at least control, the dream I had, and could converse with me like it had real thought...I know the ball of fuzz told me not to let it weigh on my mind too much, but I can't help but feel that it really is a person trying to help me."

"Huh. That _is_ strange...but strange things happen to this family. I use a seal that should have killed me, I get spared by the Shinigami on a whim while also becoming the jinchuuriki of half of the biju my wife held. The daughter I tried to spar from the difficulties of being a jinchuuriki becomes one of her own free will, we took in the son of our friends after they passed away, a free loader lives with us...do I need to go on?"

"Nope, I think you covered it. Maybe we're cursed?"

He chuckled. "Wouldn't surprise me. During the Third World War, more than enough shinobi cursed my name, maybe one of them actually managed to do it? Anyway, I'm going to get my cup of coffee, and when everyone wakes up, we have some things to discuss. Namely, the direction of your training."

**-_an hour later_-**

"Okay dad, so what about my training?" asked Mito once Fu and Sasuke sat on both sides of her.

"Well...it's not just 'your' training. This concerns Sasuke as well."

"What about me?" asked Fu.

"I haven't forgotten about you, but I'm not entirely sure you're ready for what I have in store for them."

"...do you not realize what kind of training regimen Anza put me through?! I can take anything!"

"Okay, okay, when the time comes you can come with us. No guarantees you'll want to learn this particular thing though." He turned his attention to the two genin. "I'm not going to sugar coat this: you don't stand a chance against Anza as you are. She's a sensor, so you can't sneak up on her, she has expertise in using the Sharingan's abilities, can create a powerful defence that also acts as an offense, as soon as you touch her, or she touches you, she marks you, making avoiding her even harder, and most importantly, she can use every last bit of one of her biju's power. So, in order to combat her, as I'm sure she won't come back without a fight, you will need to train harder than ever before, and need every advantage you can get...and I can give you one."

Mito and Sasuke looked at eachother, and asked the same question. "What is it?"

"The house isn't the safest place to show it, so we will be going to Training Ground Three. Get dressed and ready to go, and make sure to bring a kunai." All three children scrambled off the couch and out the room, much to the married couple's amusement.

* * *

"Wow...I haven't been here in a while. The cracks and chipped off pieces on the trees weren't always there, right?"

"No. _That_ would be Anza's handy work. I don't think she ever got over all the failed attempts at walking on them back when Shisui-sensei and Itachi were still in Konoha." filled in Sasuke.

"That...would make sense...I guess…" He clapped. "Alright, let's move onto the lesson. What I want to teach you WILL come in handy against Anza, as I'm sure she's going to gain a contract from wherever she went to."

"Wait...you're going to teach us the Summoning Jutsu?!" excitedly asked Mito.

"Correct. Even though two of you saw Kakashi use it yesterday, he probably went too fast for you to properly see the formation of the technique due to the time sensitive nature of the mission...unless you have the Sharingan, of course."

"I...didn't have it on."

"That's fine, Sasuke, because I will show you, but _do not_ perform it yet." He brought out a kunai, cut his thumb, and went through the signs carefully, letting the kids etch the seals into their memory. "Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram!" Minato struck the ground with his palm, sending thick smoke into the air. It dissipated, and the blonde man now stood on top of a dark orange and green toad that held a scroll in it's mouth. "Now, as you know, if you perform this jutsu without a contract, you will be taken to the animal that you have a natural affinity towards and then you can get one, usually having to do some kind of trial to earn it. Or you can get a summoner to bring it out and have you sign it, which, if any of you are interested, I will let you. There is more than enough space."

His daughter jumped at the chance. "Ooh, ooh, me!" The amphibian open it's jaws, and carried the scroll with it's tongue over to her. She grabbed it, put on the ground, and unfurled it, showing multiple rows of names and fingerprints signed in blood.

"Pretty self explanatory: draw blood with one of your hands, write your name with it, and after that, coat that same hand's fingers in your blood and press them under your name."

"So _that's_ why you said to bring the kunai...okay." Mito took the kunai out of her pocket, slashed her right thumb open, and did the things her father said to do.

"Great! Now, try to summon a toad. Put as much chakra as you can into the summoning, and hope for the best."

She nodded, and formed the seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" Calling upon Kurama's chakra, she slammed her still bleeding hand into the ground, and everyone was blinded by a large cloud. They didn't have to sense for the chakra of what Mito summoned, they could just feel that it was powerful.

'She did it on the first try...she summoned the boss of the toads.' The smoke thinned out, and there stood a toad of gigantic proportions. His skin was a rusty red, with more vibrant markings around his eyes, mouth, and chest. He wore a blue vest with 'ebi' on it's back, and a dosu blade scaled to size on his hip. A large pipe was hanging out of his mouth, and the young girl who summoned him stood atop of his head.

The toad looked down, and squinted at the Yellow Flash. "**Minato? You didn't summon me to fight the Kyuubi again, did you?"**

"Uh...no, and I didn't summon you, Gamabunta." He pointed to the wart-covered animal's head. "She did."

Gamabunta changed his gaze, and looked up. "**YOU summoned me?"**

"Yeah! You must be the toad that dad told me helped him defend the village from fuzzball!"

"**Fuzzball? You mean the fox?"** She nodded, and he couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

"**Oh, fuck you you giant, overgrown, fatass tadpole! Kit, let me out so I can show him just how 'fuzzy' I am!"** yelled Kurama.

'I'd rather not risk my chances with the toads as soon as I signed the contract, so no.' The Kyuubi grumbled, but let the humiliation slide...for the moment. "So...what now? I only summoned you to see what I can summon."

"**Then there's no reason for me to be here. Nothing requires my immediate attention, so I'll be going back. May want to get off me before then."**

"Getting off now." She jumped into the trees and rebounded back to the others as Gamabunta poofed away to his home. "I don't think I like him." she commented to her father.

"Bunta is a nice guy once you prove yourself to him, and you're off to a good start. At least he didn't try to throw you off his head as soon as he figured out you were standing on him."

"Did that happen to you?"

"_(Sigh)_ Yeah...and at that point, I hadn't yet mastered the Hiraishin…"

"That...sounds bad."

"It wasn't _that_ bad, it only gave me more drive to show that I wasn't some 'punk'. Anyway, you now have the toad contract, so you can call for their aid at anytime. That should come in handy against...well, anything. You just have to figure out the right ratio of chakra for different size toads, and you'll be set." He turned to the former jinchuuriki and the Uchiha. "Who else wants to sign the contract?"

"I'll do it! I want to ride on the back of a toad!" said Fu.

"Are you sure? If you do, you won't be able to find the species that you resonate with as easily."

"I don't mind, it saves me the trouble of doing whatever trial that I otherwise would have done. Besides, seeing Mito on top of the biggest frog I've ever seen in my life convinced me that I would look cool on top of one." She pricked her own thumb and proceeded to write down her name while Minato was dumbfounded.

'That...that was one of the major deciding factors of whether or not she signed the contract?! I...I don't know where to begin...'

"Uh...is it okay if I only put 'Fu'? Because I don't know my last name."

He shook himself out of his thoughts at her question. "Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. It's linked to your blood, the name is just a formality."

"Okay then, I'm done! Your turn, Sasuke!"

He looked at the contract intently for a few minutes, but ultimately shook his head. "I...think I'll pass for the time being."

Mito looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I said I think I'll pass. I don't think the toads are the right animals for me. I always liked the crows that Itachi and Shisui used, so maybe I'll try to find something similar to them, or I'll just do what Anza did and use the Summoning Jutsu to find my soul-animal."

"Alright, if that's what you want to do." Minato motioned for the toad he summoned earlier to pick up the scroll, and let it go back like Gamabunta. "Now that that's taken care of, there is one last thing I want to talk about, and this is solely for Mito."

She tilted her head to the side. "What is it, dad?"

"We both have half of the Kyuubi inside of us, and we both can't really use his power to it's full potential, while Anza can for all of her biju, and then some."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes. I would like to start training the both of us in the use of his chakra."

**-_meanwhile_-**

In a cave far away, ten spectral beings wearing high-collared coats with clouds adorning them convened. "Heh, how long has it been since we've all been together like this?"

"Seven years, not since Orochimaru defected from us."

"We'll deal with our old friend in time, hn. We have three years to prepare, and we all know what we need to do to be ready, right?"

"Of course. Make no mistakes, remember what we seek...but there's been a slight change of plans. Itachi, Kisame, you will not be hunting the Kyuubi anymore. When the time comes, _I_ will deal with it." said a man with purple, ringed eyes.

"Then who is our new target?" asked the man with a large sword strapped to his back.

"The jinchuuriki of the Nanabi has recently left the safety of her village, and if the bingo book is correct, has perfect control over the Nanabi's power and knows the Fourth Hokage's jutsus, making her rather dangerous. Anza Namikaze is your new target, everyone else, nothing has changed. Now...let's get to work." The spiky-haired shadow vanished, and one by one the others left too. Once cutting off the connection, Itachi found himself in another cave, one of his organizations hideouts.

"Anza, huh? Wasn't she the girl you trained?" asked his partner, a blue skinned, blue haired man with sharp teeth and gill-like markings under his eyes, making him reminiscent of a shark.

"Yes. This will not distract me, however. We will bring peace to this world, and if she has to die, so be it." He began walking away from the chamber, Kisame in tow, and met the fresh air and bright green trees. "We have until sunset to find any leads as to Anza's whereabouts. Let's go to the village nearby and see if they know anything. Once we get passed the gates, we will split up."

"Right, speed up the process. Got it."

After about an hour of travel, the criminal duo made it to the rather large town, and the swordsman decided that he would take the eastern half, leaving the Uchiha alone for the moment. 'Good, now I can finally let him know about the new development...' Going into a back alley, and after making sure no one was near him, Itachi summoned a crow. Passing his hand over it's wing, he unsealed the storage seal on it and gained a large leather journal. He opened it, went to the next blank page, and began writing. '_Things have changed. My target isn't Mito anymore, it's Anza. She has become a jinchuuriki like her sister. Do you have any leads?'_ Sasuke's older brother closed the book and handed it back to the crow, who grabbed it with it's mouth, and poofed away. After a few minutes, it came back, and when he reopened it to the page he just wrote on, there was a response.

'_I knew she never died ...no, I don't have anything at this moment, but it looks like I'll have to find her before you do, since you have to keep up appearances with the Akatsuki. Slow them down as much as you can, and if I meet up with her, I will let you know. Don't send anything to me until then.'_ Seeing that the conversation has ended, he put the journal back into the crow and let it go back to it's home.

'Damn it Anza, you made my job even harder...well, time to pretend to look for information. Hopefully Kisame doesn't find anything that will lead us to her...' He made his way out of the alleyway, and simply wandered the streets, barely listening to the conversations the civilians were having.

**-_in another place_-**

"How much longer? We've been walking forever!" whined Haruka as she, Anza, and their new friend marched through a deep cave system, the destination of the white-haired jinchuuriki's Summoning Jutsu.

"I have to agree with her. We've been in here for a day now, and the end doesn't seem to be anywhere in sight."

"I know guys, I'm tired of this thing too, but it shouldn't be much longer. I can feel a powerful chakra just up ahead. We're going to find out just what is my 'perfect match'." The little girl groaned, but trusted that Anza was telling the truth. They continued onward, and their perseverance was rewarded with the tunnel opening up to what looked like a vast chamber so large that the shadows became too dark to see the end. The ceiling was also far higher than just a minute before, more than tall enough to house some of the larger buildings from Konoha. "Well...it looks like we're going to need a flame to see the entire thing. Let me just-"

*Thud, thud, thud.* The sounds of heavy feet started approaching the trio, and instinctively the Hokage's daughter brought out her katana in preparation of a fight. The ground beneath them started shaking, and from the shadows a single, dark green paw larger than any of them crashed into sight. Far above it, glowing, sickly yellow eyes opened, making Haruka let out a small 'eep'. "Welcome to my abode, humans. It's been around a hundred years since one of your kind, or, in actuality, anything at all has visited me. Which one of you is the one that brought all of you here?" The beast spoke in a regal, friendly tone, not anything like what they were expecting.

"Uh...me."

It's eyes narrowed. "Hm...a Senju? No...an Uchiha? Not quite that either...you're more like...yes...even with that diluted chakra, there's no mistaking it…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing important at this time. You have passed my first trial, but in order to be considered my summoner, you must do one more thing...show me your power! Fight me to the bitter end!" It's roar rattled her bones, but she wouldn't be deterred after coming so far. She traded her katana for the Kiba blades, which she had to teleport from Konoha, and charged them with electricity as her companions took a step back.

"I'm not in the best of shape right now, but if that's what it will take, then let's go!" Her Mangekyo formed in her eyes, and she rushed forth, to begin a fight with a being she had no idea could exist in this world.


	40. Chapter 40

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 40**

In the quaint town of Miramashi, the cloudy sky seemed to represent the mood of its citizens. The people dragged their feet, put little effort into their duties, and there wasn't a smile to be seen, not even from the children. 'We can't keep going on like this...' thought a single dark haired man as he weaved through the streets to his destination. Every day he met up with his long-time friend Akira at the cafe early in the morning, in the hopes that between the two of them they could figure out what to do about their problem.

"Hey, Noboru! Over here!" A brown-haired man presumably Akira waved at the now named Noboru, successfully getting his attention and drawing him to the two seated table.

"Hey Kira. How's the old man? Any change?"

"He's still sick from all the recent stress, but can you blame him? With the attack on our caravans, we can't send goods out, so the economy is dropping faster than Iwa's ego during the war."

The waiter came by and gave the two of them complimentary cups of coffee, and Noboru just stared at his reflection in his. "It's been how many days since this started?" he solemnly asked.

"Thirty days, a full month."

He struck the table. "Damn it...why won't the mayor ask for help from the hidden villages?! We need shinobi!"

"I know we do, but from what I could find out, it's that we _can't_. Whenever they send a bird carrying a missive, the highwaymen shoot it down before it can anywhere close to Kusagakure."

"Then we need to take matters into our own hands."

"What?"

"I'm sick of those damn bandits having complete and total control over our lives. Kira, your dad's a blacksmith, right?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"We're going to steal a whole bunch of weapons and armor, convince everybody to join us, then distribute the things to them, and then we drive those criminals away!"

"Are you mad?! No one here has any combat experience, while they do! We're just a simple village! We don't even have a dojo!"

"Then what do you think we should do?! We can't just sit here and do nothing while we risk them invading us and killing us all!"

"Um...excuse me sirs…" The men turned at the new voice, and saw a very small...girl? It was hard to tell with the strange expressionless mask over her face. The only unique feature on it was that it had a carefully written kanji for 'hunt' on it's forehead. Besides that, she wore a black cloth jacket with the left sleeve torn off, showing the kanji for 'weapon' surrounded by 'small', 'dual', and 'blade' on her shoulder, a black shirt, black pants, and steel grey sandals. Her hair was a dark curly mess, but seemed clean, so it naturally was that way. "Did you say something about bandits?"

They blinked at the stranger who didn't look like she belonged in this town, but Akira was the first to recover. "Oh, hey little girl. Are you lost? Did you wander too far from your mother?"

"No, I know where my mom is. But is there a problem? Maybe I can help."

"Wait...you don't know about the bandits?"

"Um...no. I came in from the north, if that helps."

Noboru leaned in a bit. "Then you're lucky. They wouldn't have shown any mercy to you, even if you are a child."

She stamped her foot. "I may be a child, but I'm a trained kunoichi!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You? A kunoichi? I'm sorry, but I don't see it. Where's your headband, for one?"

"I don't need one! But do you need help or not?!"

Noboru looked at Akira from the corner of his eye, saw his reluctance, but chose to ignore it. "Yeah, we do, but how can a little girl help us?"

"Just stay right there! Don't move, I'll go get mom!" The tiny child claiming to be a ninja sped off, leaving the two friends still sitting at the table.

"What are the hell do you think you're doing?!" shouted Akira, and the sudden raise in volume made the other customers and passer-bys look at them.

If the new pairs of eyes unsettled the well-built man, he didn't show it. "I'm taking a chance. If this girl really can help us with the bastards, then we can't let this slip away because we're worried that she's a con."

"Yeah...but…_(Sigh)_ you're right. She didn't look like the type to lie, especially with her determination to figure out if we needed assistance."

"Exactly. Let's just see who she brings, and maybe we can work out some kind of deal." It took a few minutes, but the girl came back, and like she promised, brought not just one, but _two_ people. The first wore a dark yellowish-brown pinstriped outfit under a green kimono with white trimmings that stopped just past the waist, and had long black hair that split into locks that framed their face while the rest was gathered into a white bun holder on the back of their head. The other wore a jet black, long sleeved, high-collared haori that had armored shoulder pads like from the days of old over a strikingly white shirt that showed that this one was _definitely_ a girl and pants, her hands were covered by steel gauntlets, and her feet were similarly armored. She also had smooth, bright white hair that cascaded down her back and ended in spikes. The new comers both seemingly shared the same habit as the young girl, wearing emotionless masks, with the one wearing the green kimono having a red wave design over where their mouth should be, and four small wave-like designs on it's forehead, but it too had the kanji for 'hunt' over it . The second girl, of course, had it too, but also had a second mark that read 'juyon', fourteen, on the left cheek.

Akira focused on the white haired one. "So...I take it you're this girl's mother?"

"Not biologically, but I have taken it upon myself to be her legal guardian. Well...not quite, but more or less." Her voice was warm and inviting, but the men could sense an undertone of authority. This woman commanded respect, but didn't ask for it, she didn't need to. "Now, my little girl didn't specify why she wanted me and Glacius to follow her to this spot, but usually she has a good reason. What seems to be the problem?"

"Well...you see, for the past month we've been blocked in by bandits. We've tried to get help from Kusa, but the birds get shot out of the sky, and we never trained them to take a different path around, so we've been on our own. If they aren't taken care of, this village runs the risk of being overrun."

The air around them suddenly became heavy, and he noted that the back of his neck started to become drenched in sweat. "Bandits?" No single word could describe the venom and malice this simple question had, and it terrified the blacksmith's son, so he only nodded. "Take me to whoever is in charge. _Now_."

**-_a few minutes later, Mayor's Office_-**

The mayor, unlike in some villages, wasn't a well dressed, portly, senile man in his late seventies. No, he was a young, strapping lad who, at most, was in his thirties, and wore normal civilian clothes. He seemed to be a fighter at some point, as there was a sword hanging up on one of the walls. "Noboru, Akira, who is it that you've brought to my office? I've never seen them before."

"We...don't know sir, but they say they can help with our bandit problem." said Noboru.

The leader turned to the one wearing the open haori, as she seemed to be the leader of this merry band. "Please, introduce yourselves, and tell me why you would want to help us."

"For...legal reasons, I can not tell you our real names, but I will tell you our codenames. I am Chimera, this young man next to me is Glacius, and she is Umbra."

"Wait...that's a guy?!" shouted Noboru, who immediately got on his hands and knees. "I'm so sorry! You look a bit like a girl, you sound like a girl, I thought you were a girl!"

Glacius shrugged it off. "It's fine. Everyone thinks that I'm a woman at first, and I can use it to my advantage if I desire to, so no harm done."

Chimera cleared her throat to attract everyone's attention back to her. "Now that that's been cleared up...Mister Mayor, the reason why we would help you is because that's what we do. We're hunters, we hunt down wild animals, bandits, and even rogue ninja if the price is high enough."

"So you're help isn't free. You're essentially mercenaries."

"If you want to call us that, sure, but only the rogue ninja are the ones where I need a higher than normal price. For bandits, all I ask for is ten-thousand ryo in cash, ten boxes of coffee grounds, five boxes of tea leaves, three of your largest bottles of vanilla creamer, and free hot-spring privileges for whenever we pass through."

"I...don't believe you. That price is _far_ too low, as usually that would cost us hundreds of thousands if we needed to hire Kusagakure services."

"Oh, I know all about how hidden village's price things, but I don't need that much money. I literally have millions of ryo in my pockets, so my offers are cheap, and we do good work. Since we've begun doing this kind of freelance work, we haven't had one failure, or a single unhappy customer."

The mayor clasped his hands together in front of him and began to think over the offer. 'We desperately need help...and these three look like they have sufficient training...'

"Come on, you know what you have to do!" yelled a now standing Noboru.

"_(Sigh)_...yes, yes I do. Chimera, consider your services hired."

"You won't regret this, I swear. Let's go, Kusa is to the south, so the bandits would be in that direction." The other two nodded and they turned to leave, but the duo of friends stepped in front of them.

"Wait! We want to go with you." said the brown-haired man.

"Why? You would only get in the way."

"I know, but I want to see you in action. I want to see if you really can do what you say you can."

"Doubting my words, are we? Fine then, come along. I will show you that we are the best in the business." She walked past them, and they fell into place behind Glacius and Umbra.

* * *

The group of five found the bandit encampment, and took residence in the large tree branches as they spied from above. "Hm...looks like they're in it for the long haul. They have little houses made of rock, so that means they have at least one shinobi that has earth release, probably is the one running this operation. Is there anybody that has been taken hostage?"

"Maybe one or two, but most of them are killed when they attack a caravan." filled in the blacksmith's son.

"That's more than enough reason to check for them." Chimera brought out a kunai, and let it drop to the forest floor. "I'll go in and free them before we begin the assault, as I will NOT be the same person as I am right now." She vanished from their sight as she started the search, moving quickly between buildings and hiding from enemy eyes. In only a few minutes she felt weak chakra signatures, weaker than the bandits, at least, and closed in on the building holding them. She didn't feel any bandits nearby besides the ones that she assumed were stationed to guard their prisoners, so she sneaked inside and swiftly killed the jailors before they even realized they were in danger.

One of the civilians, a purple haired woman, looked at her. "Are...are you here to save us?" she whispered.

"Yes. I'm getting you out of here, then I'm going to make them pay for all the pain they've caused you and your village." The masked girl proceeded to break their bindings, setting them free. "Grab a hold of me, then go behind the tree and wait until I come back." Without waiting for a sign of acknowledgement, she transported with them to the kunai she dropped, and jumped back up with the rest of her team. "There, the people are now freed. Umbra, Glacius, are you two ready?"

"Yes."

"Then both of you are going to be partnered up and take one half, and I'll take the other. While down there, I sensed around fifty signatures, a sizable amount, so be cautious, but don't stop until you can't find any more. Umbra, do not use a fire jutsu. We may want them dead, but we don't want to burn down the forest. We will not have a repeat of 'The Lightning Incident'."

"Fiiinnneee, I'll just use Whisper." The black clad child brought out a kunai and cut above her 'buki' seal, and once it was fully covered by blood, it started to glow and send streams of red liquid and black kanji down her arm and off her hand, forming a dark mass. When Umbra touched it with both hands, it split apart and began changing into thin, dagger-like shapes, which she grabbed ahold of.

"Good. Remember now, these guys are vile, heartless, evil creatures not even worth being called human. They aren't even monsters, as monsters at least kill to survive. No, they are far worse, so that means we can have fun while we _slaughter them, grind their bones into dust, and let their blood paint the ground red..._Glacius, I know you don't like killing, so just paralyze them and let Umbra handle the dirty work. Ready...go!" Jumping off again with enough force to crack the branch all the way to the truck, she barreled through one of the rocky houses, sending debris flying through the air and alerting everyone to their presence.

"You know...she could have killed them all while she was saving the hostages. We would be on our way back by now if she had." commented Glacius.

"But you know that she doesn't like doing that if they're bandits!"

"Right...it just occured to me, she's never told us way she hated them so much. Maybe one day...anyway, shouldn't you be making your appearance?"

"Oh, right!" The dagger-wielding girl hopped down and started running towards the amassing crowd of bandits. When she determined she was close enough she leaped onto one's neck and coldly cut it before kicking off and beginning her own path of destruction. Compared to them, she was far faster, nimbly dodging all their shallow attempts at killing her and giving them deep gashes in their stomachs and legs for their trouble. As they bled, the blood only served to make Whisper deadlier, evolving it into longer, wider, and even serrated forms. Eventually her element of surprise ended, and the bandits were able to hold her off as they surrounded her by sheer numbers.

"Come on men, it's just a little girl! She can't give us that much trouble as long as we stick together!"

"You're right...it is 'just a little girl'. How about we even the odds just a bit?" A voice said from behind them before a shower of liquid needles started to mow down the opposition. When a few of them turned around, they spotted a single man retreat into a mirror and disappear, but he reappeared next to the child.

"Thanks Glacius, that would have gotten ugly."

"It's what I do. You really should stop rushing into things."

"...I'm not apologizing. We still have a mission to do, so can you keep throwing those senbon?"

"Of course." Digging through his pockets, he procured six of the medical tools and began throwing barrage after barrage, striking the less trained combatants in all the right places and making it rather easy for the tiny kunoichi to end their lives. After eight more of the fifty strong force were killed, the front end of the building that their leader crashed through exploded outward, causing the rest of it to cave in. Once the smoke cleared, Chimera stood tall and unharmed, with a single still bleeding head in her hand. She threw it into one of the bandits, making him stagger, and faster than he could blink she was already in front of him, hand embedded in his chest.

"Say goodnight…" She pulled it out, and he fell to the ground, desperately trying to breathe as blood filled his lungs. Without stopping for long she charged at another and struck him hard in his face, sending him flying into a tree. He didn't get back up. "Oh, I so enjoy my job…"

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!" Turning to where the shout came from, she spotted four large spikes inching closer to her, but she simply charged chakra into her fists and bashed through them with ease.

"So the head monkey finally makes an appearance, huh?"

The man with a Iwa headband scowled. "Leave, or I'll kill you."

"Making threats? To me?" She doubled over in laughter.

"Are you mocking me?"

"No, no...pfft, yeah." The white haired girl straightened back up. "If you think you can kill me, then you are severely mistaken. You are but a paper tiger standing against the storm, and I'm going to blow you away."

"I think you underestimate me!" He again performed Earth Flow Spears, but he put a lot more chakra into it, which made a far greater amount of spikes come from all around her, but before it could even graze her jacket she was gone, like a ghost. "What?!"

"Yeah...I think _you_ underestimated _me_. There's a reason I brought an eight-year old here, it's because I can protect her, even against scum like you." The rogue-nin jumped back hearing her voice from behind him, and brought out a kunai. "Fool. You actually think you can defend yourself from me?! I just got past your defense like it's childs play! You only live as long as I say so! I WANT TO SEE YOU SUFFER!" The enemy just couldn't stop her. She pummeled him with her iron clad fists while his subbordinates could only sit there and watch. After what felt like an eternity, Chimera grabbed him by the shirt and threw him towards the place Umbra and Glacius were fighting, and when the beaten and bloody man hit the ground, all fighting from both sides stopped.

"Looks like your boss met ours." said the child, getting a few to scowl, before changing their gaze to the approaching female. As she inched closer and closer, the former Iwa-nin tried to get up, but he was too slow as the hunter planted her metal boot onto his head, keeping him in place.

"Please...mercy…"

"Mercy? How dare you ask that of me. How many people begged you to spare their lives, only for you to coldly butcher them on the spot?" She stomped on him. "HOW MANY?!"

"Let us go...we...we won't do this anymore…"

"Let you go after all you've done?! Give you a chance, when _you_ chose to go down the path of murdering innocent civilians?! How. Fucking. _Naive._ I hate people like you, and there is only one fate that can honor all the people you've mercilessly killed." A red aura exploded to life around her, and she began increasing the pressure on the shinobi's head, making him scream in pain. "I sentence you to life in hell. Enjoy your stay, for you will not be getting out." A tail formed out of the aura, and his head popped like a grape. She turned her sights onto the other bandits, who began taking fearful steps back. "Scared? You should be. You chose to be my enemy, and I won't let a single one of you live!" The assault began again, and in only a matter of minutes all of them were dead, a vast amount torn apart by the 'juyon' bearing girl. "All hostiles in the area have been eradicated. Mission accomplished."

"Great! Another win for the Hunter's Guild!" cheered Umbra.

"We've been over this...we don't have enough members to be called a guild, and I don't want that many. I have my hands full with just you!"

"But it sounds cool, doesn't it?"

"...I can't argue that. Well...we probably should go back to...what were there names...ah yes, Noboru and Akira. I don't think they can get down from the trees like we can." Leaving the bodies to rot, they joined their wide-eyed acquaintances on the branch, grabbed them, and brought them to the ground next to the freed prisoners.

"You...you made it look like they were nothing…" murmered Noboru.

"They _were_ nothing, at least to us. I have trained to surpass my limits since I was seven, Glacius was trained by a...lets just say a very competent shinobi, and Umbra was trained by yours truly, so if we had trouble with simple bandits with one ninja, then we don't deserve to be called 'shinobi'. Now, I'm sure your mayor would like to know of our success, so let's get going, shall we?" Everyone nodded, and followed the three man team all the way back to Miramashi.

* * *

"Thank you for saving my village. I never should have doubted you." said the mayor after being given the report by Chimera and the eye-witness accont by the two friends.

"Please, Mister Mayor-"

"Call me Hideki."

"There's no need for that, Hideki. We were only doing our job, you don't have to thank us."

"But I do. You just averted a disaster for everyone in this village, the least I can do is say 'thanks', as I haven't collected your reward yet."

"Because you thought we weren't going to be able to complete it."

"Exactly. I apologize, and hope you will wait a little bit as we gather everything."

"How long would I wait?"

"If I asked them to rush, you could have everything in a few hours, but can you wait until tomorrow? I'm sure everyone would like to celebrate the death of the bandits."

Chimera put a hand on her chin. "Alright, tomorrow it is, then. I won't take away from people's joy for their new found sense of freedom….but I _really_ would like those free hot spring visits…"

Hideki stood up, brought out his wallet, and fished out about five-thousand ryo. "Then here, this should cover the cost of the hot springs for the three of you, and you can use the rest for a 'free' one night stay at our finest hotel. Don't worry, this won't take up part of the ten thousand you asked for."

She waved off the offer. "Keep it, it's no big deal. I have more money than I know what to do with, so you don't need to bring out your own money to pay for my expenses. Thank you for the offer, though. It speaks volumes of who you are as a person. This town is lucky to have you as a leader." The haori-wearing girl turned, and walked out the door, her comrades in tow.

"You just want to look at the girls, don't you?" asked Umbra in a tone that made it seem like that this sort of thing happened often.

"...a little, but don't think that I don't see you doing the same thing." The small child didn't respond to that, and the trio got out of sight.

Back in the office, Akira looked at Noboru, who had a face that promised trouble. "What are you thinking about?"

"I...have a great idea. Kira...how much have you wanted to be a shinobi?"

* * *

**A.N.: I wonder who _those_ three are...**

**Deltahalo: Well...if she does go blind, she has experience with that.**

**Lastdrop94: Wow...thank you for the kind review! I don't feel like I deserve the praise you're giving me, as personally I see this story as crap, but I'm glad that I can provide you and a few others with something that's at least just a bit entertaining.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 41**

The trio who wandered into Miramashi were winding down after their mission, staying in the hotel that Hideki mentioned and found after a brief search. "Aah...despite being used to the whole 'surviving off nature' thing, I have to admit...I like being able to just lay down on a nice, soft bed." said Chimera, who had taken off her haori and set it up on a hanger, showing the word 'chimera' written in kanji on it's back that's usually hidden by her long hair.

"And whose idea was that?" asked Glacius.

"...when did you pick up my snark?"

"We were locked up in a cave for almost two years. I'd be surprised if you didn't rub off of me."

"Right, right. Not my fault, you know. Daku had some tips he wanted to give me as his new summoner."

"I know. I was there."

"...I'm glad I met you."

"Moooom, can I take off the mask now? I'm sweaty!" whined Umbra, getting her 'mother' to chuckle.

"Just give me a second, I have to get the paper!" Bringing herself to sit up on the mattress, she searched through her storage seals, found the right piece of parchment, and slammed it on the wall, sending hundreds of kanji across the room. After this was done, Chimera removed her mask, revealing her whiskered face. "It should be fine now, no one can enter or hear what's going on in this room as long as the front door isn't opened from this side."

As soon as she said that the small girl pulled the mask off and dried off her face with her lone sleeve. "Finally!"

Glacius too took off his more colorful cover. "These things are not really the most effective way to hide our identities across multiple countries. Why don't you use that special henge that you used in Konoha, Anza?"

"Because...we don't need it? The only pictures they have of me are the ones from before I fell off that cliff and the ones that have 'Menma'. My hair color isn't 'unique', as my uncle has it, so not many people would look at me and say 'Oh, that's Anza! Let the Hokage know!' Moving on to you and Haruka, there are plenty of tiny girls with black hair, and from what you've said, there are no pictures of you that you haven't collected."

"Yeah Haku! Don't be such a worry wort about the whole thing, mom's got it _all_ figured out!"

Anza rubbed the back of her head. "Uh...not really. I'm winging it, like I always do. Go get your shower, Haruka. Don't want to be sweaty when you go to bed, right?"

"Right!" The little bundle of energy bounded off to the bathroom, leaving the two older ninja alone in the bedroom.

"By looking at her you never would think that she's capable of killing so easily. Aren't you worried that this kind of work is going to traumatise her?" asked the effeminate male.

The Konoha missing-nin sighed. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't. She's such a sweet, bright young girl, and I don't want that to disappear. I want her to be able to smile while hanging out with friends, not go through PTSD when she's not even old enough to have kids. I want her to have a good life, but here I am, bringing her into life or death situations. I know that between the two of us and the skills I have taught her, she should be able to survive long enough to have a family...but...I can't help but feel as if that I'm going to destroy who she is...yet when I see that big grin of hers, it makes me feel like that no matter what she does or sees, she won't change."

Haku smiled. "You don't know how happy your answer makes me. You truly have someone precious to you, and you want to protect them with every fiber of your being."

She too smiled. "She's my everything. Haruka brings me joy when I've lost everything back in Konoha. My friendships, my status, my leader and brother...and…" Her face became sad for a minute, but settled back into her normal expression. "If something were to happen to her...I don't know what I'd do."

The previous subordinate of Zabuza, seeing that she probably didn't want to talk about this anymore, decided to change the subject. "So, where to next?"

"I don't really know...maybe the Land of Water, since I haven't been there in a long time. I also want to see how Chojuro's doing, as I wanted to keep tabs on his progress back in the Chunin Exams. Maybe he's a jonin? He has the skills."

"Chojuro?"

"Oh, I haven't told you about him. He's a member of the Seven Swordsman, like Zabuza. For being a genin at the time, he was a far better swordsman than I, but then again I was using a giant butcher knife I'd only been using a few months. Once I got ahold of Kiba though, I was better than he was." Anza bent over, and began undoing the straps on her boots. "Anyway, we'll figure out our next destination tomorrow. Let's just relax for the time being, take our showers, and then get ready for bed. And Haku...don't take an hour long shower this time."

"...no promises." She rolled her eyes, and resigned herself to the fate that she was probably going to be in the shower by nine. 'Why am I the only one who takes _reasonable_ showers? Man...the manager of this place is going to be _pissed_ at us...'

**-_the next morning, gate_-**

"Again, I can not thank you enough for what you've done for us. If you hadn't come along, we might have been killed by those bandits later on." said Hideki as he, and a whole lot of people, saw the heroic mercenaries off.

"As I said yesterday, there is no need to thank us. We're just doing what my senseis taught me." said Anza, with her Chimera mask back on.

"You're teachers must be so proud to have a student like you."

Even though no one else could see it, she looked down, and frowned. "I'd...like to think so."

He put on an award winning smile. "I'm sure they are. Now, I can't let you leave without your reward! Bring her the baskets!" Three people stepped up with woven baskets, each having one of the rather specific payments and paper ryo.

"Ah, thank you." The fourteen year old touched all the baskets, sending them inside her storage seals. The mayor walked in front of her, and stuck out his hand.

"You all are always welcome in Miramashi, so don't hesitate to come and visit every now and then."

Anza shook it. "It would be our pleasure, just don't let bandits take over again. I'll have to charge double."

He chuckled. "We'll try. Have a safe journey."

"In our line of work, I don't think that's really possible." She let go, and turned to the exit. "Let's go guys, we have a lot of ground to cover." Haruka and Haku nodded, and began following their leader out of the village, but someone didn't want them to leave just yet.

"Wait!" a familiar voice shouted, getting the Hokage's daughter to look back, and she spotted the two guys from yesterday with large packs on their backs. "_(Huff, huff)_ We...we're coming...with you!" said the one she recognized as Noboru.

"Oh? Is that so? What for?"

Akira stood up straight, having regained his breath faster. "We want you to train us."

"Train you? Sorry, but I'm still training Umbra, and I'm working around the clock to make new collaboration jutsu's with Glacius. I can't do anything with you two."

Noboru stumbled over, and brazenly grabbed her by the haori. "Then train us with her! Please, we want to be able to do the things you can, we want to be able to protect our home in case something happens!"

She grabbed his hands. "Putting your hands on me won't help your cause. Remember who you're dealing with."

He let go, and took a step back. "I'm sorry, but please! I'm begging you, teach us how to be shinobi!"

"And what about your families? Did you tell them about your hopes, or did you just decide during the night to abandon them? Because if the latter is true...I will never even CONSIDER training you, and you can go home with your dreams crushed."

"We did ask them if it was okay if we could join you. Even though my mom and dad weren't very delighted about the prospect of me leaving the village, they said if that's what I wanted to do, they would support me all the way." said Akira.

"And mine were the same way. All my life my family has been rather poor, and once I told them about how much money you get from a job, they said I should go for it, so that I didn't end up like them."

Anza shook her head. "Well that's great and all, but I-" Before she could finish telling them 'no', Haruka pulled at her sleeve.

"They want the power to protect their friends and family, isn't that a good cause?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure I can teach more than one person at a time, and Glacius doesn't have anything he can teach that I can't, so he's really no help with this...no offence Glacius."

Said man shrugged. "None taken."

"Well...think of this as your own personal genin team! Come on, I want training partners! Please?"

"But...damn it, fine! I can't say no to you...Noboru, Akira, you can come with us, but you have to go through a test before I can recognize you as my apprentices. Say goodbye to Miramashi, because you might not see it again for awhile." Turning back around, she started walking away with her team, and the two best friends followed, waving at their home town as they did. Once they got to a distance Anza deemed 'safe', she pulled them off the road and into the nearby forest.

"Do...you know where you're going?" asked Akira.

"Not anymore, since the sudden addition of you two threw my plans out of the loop." Stopping next to a tree, she punched it, giving it her Hiraishin mark. "Okay, if I'm going to test you, I want to make sure no one will suddenly drop in and ruin it, so that means we have to go to the cave."

Haruka's ears pricked up at that last bit. "Fluffy's Cave?"

"Yep. It's secluded, and gigantic. It's perfect."

The Uchiha began becoming jittery with excitement. "Yes! I like seeing Fluffy! He's so nice, and he doesn't mind me riding on his back!"

Noboru raised an eyebrow. "Fluffy? Who the hell is Fluffy? Another member of your group?"

The masked daughter of the Hokage nodded. "He's my personal summon, and one of my few friends. He's very polite despite what his appearance may suggest, so be courteous when you meet him. Everyone, grab on." After all of her group grabbed a fist full of her coat, she used the Hiraishin to get to the very spacious subterranean cavern. Upon exiting the teleport, the two non-shinobi fell to the ground, their entire sense of balance thrown out of whack.

"Guh...gah...what...was that?"

"Are you familiar with the Hiraishin?"

"You...you mean the jutsu that...the Hokage's famous for?"

"The very same. To save you the long, convoluted story, I'll just remove my mask. You should know who I am if you keep up to date with the rest of the world." Reaching up, she carefully took off her face cover, and their eyes widened.

"You're...you're Anza Namikaze, daughter of Minato Namikaze!"

"So you HAVE heard of me. Good, then I don't have to explain everything. Now, get up from the ground! You can't do anything lying down!" They scrambled back onto their feet. "Okay, first things first, if you fail my test, I'm sending you right back to Miramashi. If that happens, you will not tell ANYONE about my real identity, or I will track you down and kill you in cold blood. Got that?" They nodded frivolously. "Second, if you pass, when you are outside of the cave or any of my safe houses you will not say any of our true names unless I say you can."

"Alright...so what's the test?" asked the blacksmith's son.

"Simple, you will fight my daughter, Haruka, until I say to stop. If I find your performance adequate, then I will begin teaching you what I know."

"Fight her?! We'll get destroyed!"

"That's not the point of the exercise, and she won't fight you at her best, only enough that it should be a challenge to touch her. Now...you _did_ bring weapons...right?"

"Um...my dad put a knife that he forged a year ago in my pack. Noboru? What about you?"

"Nope. Notta. Nothing. I only have my body."

Anza nodded to herself. "I can work with that...okay, to make this fair…" She turned to Haruka. "You won't be allowed to use the Blood Forming Seal or any other jutsus. You can only use taijutsu or kunai."

"Okay!" She dug into the pouches strapped to her thighs and brought out two kunai. She flipped them in her hands, holding them in a reverse grip, and crossed her arms so that each point was facing one of potential students. In response to her taking that stance, Noboru and Akira took off their packs, with the one with lighter colored hair bringing out the knife he mentioned.

"You may begin whenever you want. Don't hold back, you two. She can handle whatever you throw at her."

'You don't have to mention that...we saw her slaughter those bandits...' silently thought the unarmed man before he charged at his younger opponent, bringing his fist back to throw a punch, but when he tried to hit her, she effortlessly dodged it while simultaneously landing a small cut on his hand.

"C'mon, you can do better than that!" taunted the eight year old. Akira joined in on the fun, doing his best to land his own cut on her, only to be foiled at every turn when she quickly used her weapons to deflect each strike. When Haruka stopped his attacks for the ninth time, she headbutted his stomach with enough force to make him double over. Turning to Noboru, she threw one of her kunai at him, and surprisingly, he turned his body fast enough to avoid being skewered. While he was distracted, she ran towards him as fast as she could, appearing next to him in mere seconds, and almost landed a powerful punch to his gut, but he barely caught it in his hand, grunting from the force.

'This...this can't be a normal human being! No girl this young should have this much strength!'

From the sidelines, Haku couldn't help but be impressed. "It seems that he has talent. Maybe he would be worth training?"

"Maybe...but I need to see more from them both." said the white haired Uzumaki.

Back at the fight, Noboru again took the offensive, but it was like he was fighting the air itself. 'So fast! What kind of hellish training did she put this kid through in order to fight at this level?!' Deciding to try a different tactic, he began incorporating poorly executed kicks into his barrages, only to be disappointed that it changed nothing, giving him no edge. 'What can I do?! Everything I do, everything I TRY to do is blocked as if it's the easiest thing in the world! It's like I'm not even here!' During his internal rant, he almost missed the Uchiha stopping one of his arms by grabbing it, and the other with her own. Before he could move, she jumped and kneed him in the chin, sending him up into the air, and he landed right next to his friend. "Ow…that...was uncalled for...are you awake, Kira?"

"Yeah. I was hoping that she would fall for my fake out, but she doesn't seem to be buying it." Together, they stood back up. "So...what the fuck are we going to do? We can't seem to hit her."

"I don't know...but I'm not giving up. I want to learn so I can keep my family safe!" Without thinking he rushed back into the fray, but this time Akira wasn't far behind him, and they re-engaged Haruka. The one with no weapon opened with a hook, which the girl ducked under, and swiftly had to block the other's knife with her kunai. She tried to deprave him of his only weapon, but Noboru wouldn't let her, throwing punch after punch, diverting her attention to him as well as Akira, which forced her on the defensive. It took all her concentration to keep her body from getting any wounds, so she couldn't make any attempts to attack.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Anza, and the two on one battle stopped in it's tracks. "I have seen all that has been needed to see."

"So...what does that mean?"

"You get to stay."

Akira and Noboru went wide-eyed, looked at each other, and went back to looking at Anza. "What?!" they both shouted, sending echoes throughout the cavern.

"You heard me. Even though you fight like four year olds compared to Haruka, you were able to work together and pressure her, a girl who's comparable to a genin, and you showed me you have the _drive_, the spark to keep going despite the odds of victory being slim. That's good enough for me. From this day forward, you can consider yourselves my students alongside Haruka. We'll have to get you outfitted with a mask, some new clothing, and figure out what kind of weapon would be the best for you, but that can wait until later. For now...you have to meet Daku." At the mention of her summon, the ground started to shake, and a pair of large glowing yellow eyes made their way to them from the darkness.

"You called, master?"

**-_meanwhile, Konohagakure: Training Ground Three_-**

Five people stood in front of the three poles that were the defining feature of the area, all in stances that promised combat. "We're _so_ screwed." said the one with mint green hair.

"You don't have a choice, Fu. It's part of today's team training, so you have to suck it up." said Kakashi, who hadn't changed one bit in two years.

"But isn't the addition of Kushina too much?"

"Nope. Think about it, what would you do when you have to fight two powerful opponents who can work well as a team, when there are three of you?"

"Oooh...nevermind."

"Good. I swear, sometimes I wonder how you were cleared for genin duties, or even how you got on _my_ team…"

"I heard that!"

"You were suppose to."

Fu's amber eyes started to twitch. "...you're going down, Kakashi! Let's go, Sasuke!"

"Wait, how did I get drawn into this?!" He didn't get a reply as the former jinchuuriki blitzed the silver haired jonin. "Fuck me...you know what you have to do, Mito." The Uchiha turned on his now fully matured Sharingan and charged into battle.

The blonde looked over her mother. "Looks like it's you and me, mom."

"We haven't had a one on one fight in a while. I can't wait to see how much you've grown." said Kushina, who was in the standard green flak jacket and black, short sleeved shirt and black form fitting pants, and her fiery red hair was up in a ponytail, with two bangs framing her face.

A red shroud formed around Mito, and her eyes became blood red. "Then I guess we should get started!" She rushed in with a flurry of punches that never truly hit their mark, and after a few seconds of failure, the full-blooded Uzumaki counter-attacked with a strong jab, which was barely dodged. Seeing that her approach wasn't working, the blonde jumped back, and formed a cross with both index and middle fingers "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones formed around the woman that birthed her, and they too began going through hand seals, which the original copied, ending on tiger. "Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Small orbs of fire came from every direction, but Kushina simply used kawarimi to get out of the cross fire. Mito concentrated on finding her mom's chakra, but before she could pinpoint where she was, Kurama yelled inside her mind.

"**Kit, behind you!**" She jumped sideways, and when she looked back, saw the chakra chains that were used by the Uzumaki clan embedded where she once stood. From the trees, Kushina dropped to the ground light as a feather.

"Good job, but…" Letting the chain disperse, she aimed her other hand at where the others were fighting and when Fu got a punch to the face, fired a chain at her feet, which wrapped around her leg.

"...aw shit." The Hokage's wife pulled her closer, and began swinging her around like a ball and chain before throwing her right at her own daughter, who had no choice but to catch Fu to save her from rather serious injury.

"I got you!" Bracing herself by bringing out a tail, she caught the human cannonball, but the force behind the girl sent them both into a tree, knocking them both through a loop.

With Sasuke, he was not liking his odds anymore. "So...it's just me versus two jonin...no big deal…fuck it, I can't do this alone." Before the adults could stop him, he bit his finger, and formed the seals necessary for his next move. "Summoning Jutsu!" A large amount of smoke filled the training ground, thinning out at the sound of wing beats. Once it was all gone, the Uchiha was riding on top of a giant hawk. Not as big as Gamabunta, but large enough to carry three people on it's back. "Up!" The bird complied, taking to the air as Sasuke formed the tiger seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The winds formed by the hawk flapping to stay in place made his attack larger, and it went straight for the older ninja, who jumped out of the way. "Now! Dive for Kushina!" They dive-bombed the woman, and when he decided he was close enough to the ground to safely land on it, he jumped off the hawk, who still went after Kushina while he made his way to his downed teammates. "Hey! I kinda need your assistance here!"

Fu groggily brought herself to stand. "I'm going to have to see a chiropractor after this...I think my spine was messed up with that throw…"

Mito pulled herself off the ground. "Mine too...good thing I have fuzzball healing me twenty-four/seven…"

"We can talk about injuries later. Right now though, we have to figure out what we're going to do against them." said Sasuke.

"Well, it's obvious we need to keep them separated, as we can't fight jonin who know how we all work. That having been said…" Her cloak reappeared, and this time eight tails swished across the ground. "...I think I can handle mom like this, if only for a little bit."

"So we're going to keep doing what we've been doing?"

"...pretty much, yeah."

"...sounds good to me. Mito, draw Kushina away from Fu and I so we don't have to worry about sudden attacks by chains."

"Already planning on it." With their course of action set, they made their way back to their superiors, who were calmly standing around, or reading _Icha Icha_, in Kakashi's case. Nearby, the hawk Sasuke summoned was bound in chakra chains, keeping it from flying away.

"So, you're ready for another round?" asked the silver-haired man.

"Hell yeah!" shouted Fu, and he closed up his book.

"Just when it was getting to the good part…" He retook a combat stance, but before Kushina could the same, she was struck by Mito, sending her flying through the forest, and she followed her. "...well...looks like I'm fighting the two of you again."

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" Fu rushed in like she did the first time, and Kakashi wasted no time in showing why he was considered one of Konoha's best, easily deflecting her strikes with only one arm.

"I thought you would have learned your lesson, but I guess not…"

"I'm stubborn like that!"

"Not necessarily a good thing…" He started to return the attacks, making Fu take the defensive, until the hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on end.

"Chidori!" Sasuke charged forward with his lightning covered hand, and the sensei of Team Seven broke combat with the girl to avoid being electrocuted by the technique he created.

"Nice try Sasuke, but I didn't forget about you. You're going to have to try harder than that."

Anza's two best friends looked at each other, and smirked. "We know, but we just needed to change positions."

His eyes widened at the realization. "Oh, you smart little…"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Kakashi was hit by the full force of Fu's jutsu, sending him tumbling through the woods like his teacher's wife, a fact he made note of when he finally came to a stop.

'Hm...I think they've got the jist of the exercise.' He sat up, pulled his book out, and went back to reading while he waited for his students to make their way to him. He only went through three pages before the duo came into his line of sight, ready to continue the fight. "Stand down, you two. We're done here."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "We are?"

"Yes. This was just to see how well you could separate me and Kushina, and seeing how she never came back after Mito hit and subsequently went after her, I say that you did well. Tomorrow, we'll see if you can _keep_ us separated."

"Hold up for a second, why are we doing this? You never made us do this kind of exercise when Anza was in the team."

"Because it seems that there is an...organization that specializes in two-man teams, and we have reason to believe that they are going to come after us soon, so sensei wants us, and every other team, to practise fighting two jonin at a time to be prepared. Now, let's go get blondie and her mother. I'm sure they want to stop fighting." Agreeing with his statement, they followed him to the where the other women were, where they were indeed still battling. "You can stop now, the exercise is done." The Uzumaki broke off, and Mito's cloak dissipated.

"That was going nowhere fast…you're very strong, mom."

"I _was_ the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi for quite some time, so I should be. Now...who wants to get some ramen? My treat."

Sasuke shook his head. "Not yet. Kushina, Kakashi-sensei...I want to know more about this 'organization' that could attack us."

* * *

**fullmetalalchemist26: Nailed it.**

**Deltahalo: Fixed it.**

**Guest: Thanks!**


	42. Chapter 42

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 42**

Mito looked between Sasuke, Kakashi, and her mother, confusion apparent on her face. "Organization? What organization?"

Kushina sighed. "So...you decided to tell them?"

The jonin-sensei nodded. "I think it's time they know about what may lay ahead. We can't keep them in the dark forever."

"I know...I just didn't want to scare them."

"Why would we be scared about an organization we've never heard of?" asked Fu.

"Because of who was once part of it, and if the rest are just as strong...then finding Anza is the least of our worries."

All three of the teenagers looked at each other, slightly shocked. "But...but you said that getting her back to Konoha is the highest thing on our list!" said Sasuke, getting another sigh.

"That should tell you what we possibly could be dealing with. Anza...simply isn't as dangerous as these guys. Come on, let's go get that ramen, and when Minato comes back from work, we'll explain more. He knows more about them then we do."

**-_hours later_-**

The Fourth Hokage flashed to the front door of his sanctuary, away from his worst enemy, the only one he hadn't truly found a way to kill: paperwork, but luckily now he could relax a bit, as today he and Mito weren't going to be training. 'Can't believe that she can use eight out of nine tails...but then again, she and the fox are on good terms, unlike _us_.'

"**Fuck off. You're the one who put me in here."**

'We _need_ to work together, Kyuubi. What can I do to make that happen?'

"**Letting me out would be a good start…"**

'But I would die.'

"**Exactly."**

'Okay, I'm done talking to you for the day. Let me know when you decide to be _reasonable_.' His half of Kurama growled, but he cut off the mental connection as he entered his house. Deciding to get a drink, he started making his way to the kitchen, only to stop in the living room, as he noticed Kushina, Mito, Sasuke, Fu, and Kakashi sitting in there. "Hey! So how did the training exercise go?"

His student looked at him. "It went well. They were able to separate Kushina and I relatively quickly, but Fu needs to work on her quick temper…"

Said girl gave him a glare. "That only happens when my teacher acts so condescendingly to me."

"At least you have the skills to back up your personality."

Minato decided to move the conversation away from Fu. "Well, it's good to hear that they completed it rather easily. You guys should be prepared for anything, even facing a high-level tag-team."

"About that...dad, who is this organization that's of even greater concern than _Anza_?" asked Mito.

"...I should have known that you would have found out about them…" The blonde man took a seat in the last chair. "Before I say anything, I want to ask: how much do you know?"

"Just the fact that they work in two-man cells. Neither Kakashi-sensei or Kushina said anything more about them." filled in Sasuke.

"Okay, that gives me a good starting point." He adjusted his position, leaning back into the seat and folding his arms while his face became serious. "They call themselves 'Akatsuki', and not much is known about them except that at one point, Orochimaru was part of it."

"Orochimaru? That...doesn't paint a good picture."

"You don't know how right you are. Orochimaru himself is _very_ powerful, and for him to willingly partner up with someone means that person is on his level of strength, a scary thought."

"But how do we know about them? If they are so secretive that we've never heard of them before today, how did you find out about Akatsuki? It could just be false information." asked his daughter.

"You can thank Jiraiya for that. After Orochimaru defected from Konoha, he decided to leave as well and keep tabs on him. As he traveled country to country and started setting up his spy network, he began hearing of their exploits and eventually started tracking them. From what he could find out over the years, Akatsuki is a mercenary group made up of S-Rank missing-nin, and they have been hired by many hidden villages to do their dirty work."

"An entire group made up of S-Ranks...who ever is in charge must be very powerful."

"They would have to be in order to keep people the likes of Orochimaru in line. There's...also a small detail I should mention. Akatsuki more than likely has a hidden agenda...and it has something to do with the biju."

Naturally, her eyes widened. "What?"

"Well, it's merely a theory, as we don't have any solid evidence, but one of sensei's information gatherers noted that one day, when two members visited Iwagakure, once they left, the jinchuuriki of the Gobi never came back from his mission. It's too big of a coincidence to ignore, which is why I'm having you and every shinobi in Konoha train to be able to combat them if we ever come across them."

The mint-haired girl shot up from her seat. "If that's true, then Anza is in danger! We need to warn her!"

"I'm well aware of that Fu, but do you know where she's at?"

"No...but there has to be something we can do to tell her about Akatsuki!"

"And what would that be? There hasn't been any sightings of her _or_ Haruka for that matter, so we don't have an area to start looking in, and if we just sent a man to look around for her with the warning, Akatsuki could intercept them and we lose the small element of surprise we have. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do at this time." The former jinchuuriki sank back into her spot on the couch, defeated.

"Damn it...you'd think we would have heard _something_ about her from _somewhere_, yet it's like she fell off the cliff again!" said an aggravated Sasuke.

"I know how you feel, Sasuke, but that's...just the way it is for the time being." He seemed to age ten years as he finished his sentence, but he went back to normal after collecting himself. "Rest assured, she can't hide forever, she _will_ mess up, and the three of you will be the first to know."

"Good. I want my best friend back, even if it means I have to beat her into the ground to do so." He stood up. "I'm going to my room. See you all at dinner." Without waiting for acknowledgement, he exited the living room, went up the stairs, and entered his medium-sized bedroom, closing the door on the way in. Losing the energy he just had, he dragged his feet to his bed and plopped down on it, looking up at the ceiling. 'Anza...where are you right now? Did you gain that contract? What am I saying, of course you did...the unknown never could stop you. You took on Orochimaru despite his overwhelming strength and having no idea how he fought...and you did it while wearing a blindfold, taking away your biggest advantage. Even back when Shisui and Itachi were here, you decided to learn a dangerous art that could have potentially killed you, and now look at what you can do with it.' He could feel a tear starting to form in his left eye as he went down memory lane, but ignored it while he dug into his back pocket, fishing out his wallet. Opening it, he took out two pictures: one was his personal favorite, as it reminded him of happier times. It had Anza and him at the front, with the white-haired girl having an arm hanging over his neck while his younger self had an embarrassed and flustered look on his face, and their at the time sensei's right behind them. Shisui was behind Anza, and Itachi behind him. All of them were smiling like it was best day of their lives, even his older brother, who rarely smiled in public. Flipping it over, he read the caption he gave it. ' 'Anza's eighth birthday'...we had fun times back then.' The Uchiha put that one down on the bed, and eyed the other one: the official picture of Team Kakashi. Kakashi stood in the back, with his hands on the top of his and their now missing comrade's head, and Mito was at the front, with that big grin she inherited from her mother. He had a smaller smile than her, of course, and you could tell that the silver haired jonin was as well, leaving Anza the only one not smiling, just standing stoically at the left. 'I should have realized it sooner. The way you deflected every question concerning yourself, how you showed so much concern for Mito, how you seemed to avoid us as much as possible...' He chuckled. 'How hard you punched any and all trees. Maybe if I had...I could have stopped you from attacking Minato and Kushina, saved you from your hate...' The hot, bitter tears started to roll down the sides of his head, blurring his vision. "Was there anything I could have done? Anything at all to keep you here? Or...or am I just as useless as when left us the first time? That's probably it...no...no, I wasn't useless. That was an act of nature, something I had no power over, unlike this time." Sasuke brought up his arm and wiped his eyes. "I will drag you back to Konoha. I don't care if you don't want to come back, I won't let you stay out there while there is a group that wants to take you away from us." He put the photos away, and waited for someone to come and get him for dinner.

**-_the next day_-**

Mito, Sasuke, and Fu more or less limped back into Konoha battered and bruised, and their ego's crushed. "How could we complete THAT?!" yelled the amber-eyed genin.

"I don't know...I knew Kakashi-sensei was strong, but to be able to easily subdue the two of us like that...he's either been holding back a lot, or his training regimen is similar to Anza's." said the Uchiha.

The blonde shook her head in disbelief. "And my mom...holy crap. No wonder dad says not to anger her. My eight-tailed mode was pretty much useless, and that was before she used the damn chains! And _how_ many times did they make us redo it? Twenty?"

"I lost count after ten. That was the hardest 'exercise' we've ever done, not even _Tora_ could compare, and only making us redo it after they throw us to ground as hard as they can only made it worse...I'm glad it's finally over."

"Same here. Now we can relax and heal up for tomorrow...except Mito, she's already back to normal…"

Mito shrugged. "Blame fuzzball."

"...I wish I had that kind of power…anyway, what time is it…?" Fu pulled back her sleeve to look at her watch. "Two...ooh, the new movie I want to watch is about to start playing!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What kind of movie?"

"Well...if the previews are correct, a romance. Why don't you come with me? Maybe you could pick up a few tricks to get the ladies."

"I don't know...I never really liked those…"

"...I'm not taking 'no' for an answer." She grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him down the road. "We'll see you later, Mito!"

"Why bother asking me if you were just going to take me there anyway?!" yelled the boy while he tried to free himself from Fu's iron grip, ultimately failing, and they soon turned around the corner, making Kurama's jinchuuriki lose sight of them.

"**Poor kid...at least he'll have a girl by his side while he suffers from watching whatever terrible movie she has in store."** voiced the fox.

'What is with you and movies that revolve around love?'

"**Every one that **_**you**_ **forced me to watch were terrible. Every. Single. One. So excuse me while I sit over here and despise them."**

'But I thought you liked-'

"**No! It was fucking **_**awful**_**! I don't know how you were able to sit through that, much less **_**like**_ **it!"**

'Then why don't you cut off the connection so you don't have to watch them?'

"**...I forgot I could do that...shit, I could have saved myself from suffering this entire time?!"**

'Yeah...how could you have forgotten that?'

"**Maybe it's because I've gotten so used to talking to you that it slipped my mind...anyway, there's something I want to talk to you about."**

'Is it the same thing you've been trying to tell me?'

"**Yes. As you've probably noticed, you've hit a wall using my chakra, and I think I know a way to get around it."** He paused for a second, as if he was waiting for something.

'Um...are you going to tell me?'

"**Of course, it's just that at around this time I'm always interrupted, so I...kind of was expecting it, but it hasn't happened, so I can finally say it. What you need to do is-"**

"Hey, Mito!"

In the seal, Kurama let his head rest against the iron bars that made up the front of his prison. "**...fuck it, I'm done. I give up. Wake me up when the world decides to let me speak when I want to…"**

Mito sighed. 'He could have just told me right then and there...' She turned at where the voice came from. "Hey Ino, Shika, Choji, Asuma. I take it your mission went well?"

The jonin-sensei of Team Ten nodded. "Yeah, just a simple escort job, didn't take too long, and nothing went wrong."

"...you use that against Kakashi-sensei, don't you?"

Asuma smirked. "Every chance I get."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, don't let me keep you from letting dad know about your success."

"We were actually going to stop by and get some food on our way. Care to join us?" asked the Yamanaka.

"Depending on where, sure."

"Yakiniku Q."

Upon hearing the name of that restaurant, her spirits went down. "Oh. I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline, as that was the place that I had my first date...and you know who that was."

"Ooh...right...nevermind then. Have a good day."

She gave an awkward smile. "You too." Team Asuma took their leave from the girl, making her alone with the Kyuubi again. 'Okay, you can continue now.' All she got from the fox's end of the line were multiple *thunks*, as if he was hitting the bars with his head. 'I'll...just leave you be.' Having nothing else to do, she started her trek back home, passing by a little bakery as she went...and as she glanced at it, her mind couldn't help wander back to a few years ago. 'I remember visiting that place...with Anza...'

**-**_**flashback**-_

"So you aren't worried about the exams whatsoever? Not even a little bit?" asked the blonde as she and 'Menma' took a casual stroll around Konoha.

The blindfold-wearing girl shook her head. "No, not really. I have my advantage, I have perfect synch with my biju, I don't expect very many to be able to stand up to me. How about you? Are _you_ worried?"

"How can I not be? Dad's going to be watching my every move as I fight skilled opponents, seeing if I am chunin material. I don't want to disappoint him, but what if I'm not good enough?"

Almost immediately, Menma stopped Mito in her tracks and turned her around to face her. "Stop thinking that, of course you're good enough. You have more than enough skill to be considered chunin, and if the Hokage can't see that, then he's blinder than _I_ am and doesn't deserve his station."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?"

"But isn't it the truth? If, for instance, Sasuke is promoted and you're not when you are just as good as him, then wouldn't you call bullshit?"

She sighed. "I guess I see you're point…"

Her fellow jinchuuriki let go of her. "Good. I swear, you pretend to doubt yourself _just_ so I can give you a pep talk…"

The Hokage's daughter chuckled. "I would be lying if I said I didn't like it when you do!" They went back to walking, and after a few minutes, the smell of baked goods made it's way to Mito's nose. "Ah...that smells _so_ good…" She turned to the where it was originating from, and frowned. "But I need to keep my money so I can buy paper and ink…" Suddenly, she heard the characteristic sound of something being unsealed, and when she looked back at Menma, she had a large wad of ryo in her hand.

"Here. Go buy the most decadent thing in the store, keep whatever's left, I don't need it."

Mito took the stack, and her eyes widened once she counted it all. "O-one hundred thousand?! I-I can't take this!"

The other girl shrugged. "I have more than enough, and whatever's mine is yours. Isn't that what happens when you're 'with' someone?"

"Not when when we've only been dating for a few days!"

"It makes no difference to me, just go enjoy yourself."

She eyed the money again, and after a few minutes of internal debate, she sighed. "Alright...if you say it's okay...then I won't argue. I'll be right back." Kurama's jinchuuriki went inside the bakery, and after a little bit of time passed, she came back with two boxes, and she gave one to her girlfriend. "I thought you might want something, so I hope chocolate is okay?"

The white-clad genin smiled. "Yes. I guess we should go find a place to eat these. How about the training ground?"

"Sure!"

**-_end of flashback_-**

'I never thought about it until now...what am I going to do if we get her back to Konoha? I want my sister back...but I also want what I had with Menma...'

**-_meanwhile, Hokage's Office_-**

Minato was back tackling paperwork, making sure that stores got their stocks, checking over which teams are out on missions, and reading reports about academy students setting traps in the teacher's break room. 'I'm going to have to make an appearance soon if the chunin can't keep them in line...wait, what's this?' He set the report aside, and picked up a folder from the Intelligence Division, with a sticky note attached to the front of it. '_You might want to see this_...okay, you have my attention.' The blue-eyed man opened it, and the first thing that he saw was a newspaper article...from the Land of Fangs, dated three months ago.

'_NO MORE WAR! The long, arduous war with the Land of Claws has finally come to an end with the aid of a brave band of mercenaries, who went behind enemy lines and almost single-handedly took out the chain of command of their military, forcing the Claw Daimyo to surrender!'_

* * *

**A.N.: And now you have seen both sides of the coin. It seems as though Anza is _much_ happier than the rest of her family...**

**fullmetalalchemist26: Visiting the Land of Water was just a thought on her mind, she couldn't really go anywhere that she'd want to. And the whole situation with Mito...all I can say is that it _will_ be dealt with, just not for a while.**


	43. Chapter 43

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 43**

In the deep, dark cave that housed Anza's summon, the man who left his life as the blacksmith's son started to stir inside his sleeping bag. 'Ugh...man...why couldn't we stop by an inn after our test to get a good night's sleep? My back feels so stiff...' Akira climbed out, and took a look around the makeshift camp. 'Heh...Noboru hasn't moved an inch. Not surprising, he's always slept like a rock since we've been little kids. Glacius-I mean Haku, looks like he's used to this, and Haruka is sound asleep...wait a minute, wasn't she snuggled up with Anza? Where is she?' Using his limited knowledge of his surroundings, he began to search for his new teacher. 'Maybe she's deeper in the cave?' It was as good a plan as any, so he gingerly stepped over the little whirlwind of death and made his way to the darkness, and in only a few minutes he began to feel an uncharacteristic heat in the unnaturally cool cave. 'It must be her...but why come down here?' The shadows soon parted, and his white-haired leader was revealed to be sitting against the smooth, rocky wall, a fire in front of her, and what looked like a picture in her hand.

"I'm surprised you're awake. Not many civilians wake up at five in the morning." she called out to him without even turning her head to face him.

"W-well...before we joined you, my dad was training me to take over the family business, so I usually woke up rather early."

"Ah. That makes sense. Excellent, that means you'll adjust to your training easier, making my job not _as_ hard." Silence reigned over the two of them, the subject of their small conversation over, but Akira didn't like the strange quiet they shared, so he opened his mouth.

"So...uh...what's with the picture?"

"Tell me something, Akira...how old are you?"

Taken aback that she just ignored his question, he wanted to call her out on it but thought better of it, so he answered her. "Sixteen."

"Then you should know the saying 'You never truly realize what you have until it's gone.' Have you ever lost something you once called important?"

"Yeah. One of my best friends was my grandpa. He used to tell me the grandiose stories he heard during his time as a blacksmith in the Second World War, like how one of the Sannin could split a mountain with just their strength alone, or how whenever Hanzo of the Salamander appeared on a battlefield, the ground shook under his power. At the time, I thought he'd always be a part of my life...but he died a few years ago from heart failure. I miss him…"

"I'm sorry to hear that. I never knew my grandparents, with two of them not wanting to have anything to do with me and the other two dieing in that same war you just mentioned." The picture she had in her hand went up in smoke. "To answer your question, that picture serves to remind me of all the times I had with my old team...my old friends. Things can never go back to the way they were, and that hurts...but I won't let myself forget that life, it had too many memories." Anza stood up and doused the fire with a small water jutsu, and unsealed her Chimera mask. "I'll be back...at some point. I have to decide where I should take you and Noboru so I can get you outfitted. Don't leave out the front, you'll get lost in the labyrinth without Daku by your side." After putting on the mask, she faded from sight with her one word of wisdom, leaving her posse down under the earth.

'...I'm stuck waiting for the others to wake up, aren't I? Good thing I packed a few books...'

* * *

It took a few hours, but now all of the others were awake with Akira, eating a breakfast that consisted of cuts of beef cooked by the Uchiha, who used a weak fire jutsu and a kunai to get results. After she ate a few, she let out a long sigh. "I wish mom hadn't left so soon...I want coffee…"

The other man from Miramashi rose an eyebrow at her statement. "Coffee? _You_ drink coffee?"

"Yeah! I saw mom drink it one day, and since she seemed like she liked it, I took a sip when she wasn't looking, and now I like to drink a cup every morning! Can't do that when she's not here, though...the coffee machine doesn't work without her feeding lightning into it...not to mention she has it at the moment…"

"I still don't see how you can like coffee as much as you do. It's so bitter, and it requires either a lot of sugar or a lot of cream to make it drinkable. Tea is a much better alternative." butted in Haku.

"...you can't convince me to drink it again. I didn't like the taste of vanilla tea."

"I know you didn't, I was just saying." They went back to eating their little bits of cow, and once they were finished, Haruka excused herself from the group and delved into the deeper part of the cave.

"So...what do we do while we wait for Anza to come back, Haku?" asked Noboru.

"Whatever you want. We can't get out of the cave system without her giving the order to Daku...or 'Fluffy' as Haruka wants to keep calling him, and if she did, he would have told us. If you feel like it, you can start your training."

"We can?"

"If your training is going to be anything like Haruka's, then she's probably going to have you strengthen your bodies by doing push ups, curl ups, and when we move out, punching sufficiently strong trees."

"...trees?"

"Don't ask, she never told me why either."

Akira and Noboru glanced at each other, shrugged, and dropped to the ground to start the regimen while the girly-looking man watched over them. "So...since we're going to be in the same group from this point on...Haku, how did _you_ get caught up with Anza? Did she recruit you, or something?" asked Noboru.

"No, I joined her of my own free will. To understand _why_, let me tell you of how we first met..."

**-_flashback, Land of Waves_-**

A younger and even shorter Haku slowly made his way through the forest close to the village that now was the home of 'The Great Bridge of Team Kakashi'. 'How many months has it been since that day? The week's seem to blur by...it's just like my life before I met Zabuza...' At the mention of his former master, a chill not unlike the kind that his jutsu's create crept into his heart. 'What...am I suppose to do now? The man who gave me purpose is gone, and I couldn't save him when he needed me the most...I'm just a useless shell being pitied by the people of this country, and yet I can't bring myself to go anywhere else...' He continued his pilgrimage to a familiar section of the woods, where the sounds of waves crashing onto the shore reached his trained ears...but someone, a seemingly albino girl, beat him to the cross he set up for the Kiri missing-nin.

"Hey Zabuza...look, this is incredibly strange for me, as I don't really get why someone would talk to a gravestone, or cross, in this case, that's suppose to represent where a person's body rests as if they are the actual person, but I feel as if I should. I'm...I'm sorry for what I did to you. If I had known that you worked for Mei, I would have stopped the whole fight, even if it meant I had to stand up to Kakashi-sensei. Yeah...I know the whole story. You tried to perform a coup-d'etat against Yagura, but failed, forcing you to flee your home...heh...now that I think about it, we're rather alike. I even started using your sword, to honor the swordsman, the shinobi, and now...to honor a good man who wanted nothing more than to free his country. I...I hope you're in a better place than this hell-hole we call 'home', where love is divided by hate." The girl stood up from her kneeling position, and that's when Haku made himself known.

"Who are you? How do you know about Zabuza?"

She turned, showing him her amethyst eyes and whiskered face. "I could ask the same of you. You have a small bit of his chakra on you, but as he's dead, that means he couldn't have given you chakra recently, so that leaves one thing: you've known him for many years."

The androgynous male was speechless at the pinpoint accuracy of this random person's comment. 'S-she must be...a sensor...a very talented one at that...'

"Judging by your silence, I'm correct."

Haku shook himself out of his stupor. "You haven't answered my questions."

"No, I have not. I'm sorry, but I'm not what you'd call a 'free woman' at the moment, but as there's no one else around..." She gave a slight bow. "I am Anza Namikaze, daughter of the Fourth Hokage and the last known Uzumaki, missing-nin, jinchuuriki...and one of the two people who killed Zabuza."

He gave her a pointed glare. "No...the ones who killed him were Kakashi of the Sharingan and a girl in black, and she definitely didn't look like you."

As if she was expecting his skepticism, she brought out a kunai and cut just above the strange tattoo she had, and in a few seconds the scythe that Haku saw kill his mentor was in her hand. "Does _this_ convince you?"

"That...that's the same weapon she had…"

"And as to why I don't look the same, I know a special fuinjutsu called the Trickster Demon Henge that can lock a henge to whatever you want for as long as you want. Takes a few days to prepare, but goddamn if it isn't worth it."

"But...if what you say is true, then why would you pay your respects to him? Why show remorse?"

"I know you heard me when I was talking to the cross, I could sense you the entire time, but...I had to. I killed another man who only wanted to do good, even though he had to team up with scum like Gato in order to get another shot at the Fourth Mizukage. I wish I could go back in time and change his fate...but time only moves forward, so I can't do that." Her bloody weapon lost form, splattering against the ground. "Now...since I've answered your questions, please, answer mine. How did you get to know one of the deadliest men to come out of Kiri?"

"...very well." He came over to Anza, and sat down next to her. "Zabuza...saved me. I was an orphan, my father killing my mother due to learning of her kekkei genkai and I killing him and the mob he brought out of self-preservation, and I was forced to take to the streets, searching every inch for even the smallest scrap of food. Any and all people who saw me pretended I wasn't there, not even bothering to help me fight off wild animals that wanted to kill me so they themselves could have something to eat. One day, Zabuza came across me, and could sense that I wasn't like the other kids on the streets, so he gave me a choice: join him, become his weapon, that my entire being be bound to his will, or die a beggar. I wanted to feel...useful, _needed_, again, so I decided to follow him. He trained me in everything he knew, and I was his tool."

"A tool that couldn't save it's wielder. That's how you feel, right?"

"Yes. I was there with him before your fight, but he didn't want me to join him in attacking your team, so I stayed behind. If I hadn't followed that order, maybe I could have saved him."

The snow-haired girl shook her head. "You can't think like that. You can't keep thinking about what could have been, you can only move forward."

"...you're right, but what else can I do? I don't have a purpose anymore."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry for killing him. You seem to have cared for him greatly, since I'm sure you're the one who put this cross here." He nodded, and she stood up. "Well...I think I'm done here. I only wanted to apologize to Zabuza, and I have a...little girl to take care of." Anza began to walk away, but before she went past the tree line, she stopped. "You know...if you want, you can come with me. I may not be able to give you a purpose like Zabuza did, but maybe I can help you find one. If you don't, then I beg of you, don't tell anyone that I was here for at least a week. I...don't want to fight anyone at this time, much less kill someone." Anza restarted her march, and Haku was left sitting near the grave marker.

'Come...with her? Why would I join her? She killed my master...but I know that if I stay here, I'll be stuck feeling empty...' He gave one last look at the wooden construct next to him before getting up and going after the girl.

* * *

"So you simply joined up...because you needed something to do?" asked Noboru as he did his thirtieth curl-up.

"If you want to put it that simply, yes."

"When did she find out that you were a guy?"

It was at this point that Haku wished he had his mask on, as his cheeks started to turn a pale shade of pink. 'I hope it's dark enough in here...' "The...first time she changed her clothes...which was in this cave. As you can see, there is no real privacy, and as she thought I was a girl, she didn't care at that she was in plain view."

"That must have been an awkward conversation." commented Akira, who was doing push-ups.

"It really was…" Suddenly, the area on his left became darker for a split-second, and Anza stood with him, as if talking about her summoned her. "Hey."

"Hey." The slightly armored teen removed her mask, and eyed the two men working out. "I take it you told them about what I was going to have them do?"

"Correct. They were wanting something to do, so I felt compelled to. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all, thank you for doing that. I kind of forgot in my rush to figure out the best place to take our two new up-and-coming comrades. Luckily, I have. Remember that one village in the Land of Honey?"

"You mean the one that made you your bits of armor after helping them with their weird wolf problem?"

She nodded. "Yep. I just went back there and tracked down the guy who made them, and he said I should stop by the shop he and his friend own if I ever needed anything. Took a small look, and he has everything I'm looking for, so we're moving out in an hour." A pattering sound started to echo around the cavern, and in a flash the missing Uchiha leaped from the shadows and unto the Namikaze.

"Mom! You're back! Can I have my coffee?"

Anza couldn't stop the smile from creeping onto her face...not that she would want to. "Is that all I am to you? The woman who gives you coffee?"

"No, but I need it! I can't fully wake up without it!"

"I get it, I get it, but I have to get the machine out first, and for that to happen you need to let go of me for a minute!" Seeing the logic in that, Haruka let her guardian go, and after a few minutes of waiting, she got her cup of caffeine.

**-_an hour later, Land of Honey_-**

The group of five opened the door to the store Anza promised to take them, and wandered inside. "Here we are. Great, huh?"

The maskless men dumbly nodded. "Look at all these weapons...not even my dad has this many in the shop…" murmured Akira.

"And that's why I think this is the best place to go to for our needs. There are a lot of options to chose from." She turned her head to Haku. "The masks are in the back. Can you take Umbra and go pick up two blank battle-ready ones? I have to stick with these guys for a while."

"It would be my pleasure. Let's go, Umbra."

"'Kay!" The two shortest members of the small band of mercs walked away from her, making it just the three of them, but 'Chimera' began to move forward.

"Come with me. We have a lot of weapons to get through, and we need to keep on the move when we're on the surface."

"Yes ma'am!" They followed her down an aisle or two, and eventually stopped at one that covered the basics.

"Okay...if I were to just go by your appearances...Akira, as your bigger than Noboru and have more muscle, I would go for a heavier weapon, like...a hammer, or even a two-hander. That little knife just doesn't fit you."

He nodded. "I think I see what you mean...and you're right, that knife didn't fit very well in my hand."

"And you, Noboru...you're more built like me, so a sword or something similar would work for you, but as you can see...there are _far_ more than just swords."

Noboru put a hand on his chin and looked over every potential choice, but after a few minutes of not being able to decide, he looked at his new mentor with an embarrassed look on his face. "Um...what would you recommend?"

"A sword. I'm a swordsman, so I could teach you how to wield them far better than an axe, or a spear. Or you could get a scythe. I know how to use that as well."

"But what kind? There are just so many different types! A weird wavy one…"

"That's a kris."

"A broad one…"

"Machete."

"Even a strange, hooked one with a spike on the other side of the handle!"

"Hook Blade, and the proper term is 'hilt'."

"How do you know all of these?!"

She shrugged. "It's what happens when you like blades. Now do you have an idea on what to choose, or will I have to pick one for you?"

"No no, I think I can handle it!" He went back to looking, and soon his eyes settled on what looked like a longer than normal katana, and he picked it up. "This seems like it would be a good weapon…"

"And you'd be correct. That is a tachi, the predecessor to the katana, but it's wielded in much the same way. I'm going to have fun passing on what I know to you." After seeing him gulp, she turned around to see if Akira found something...but he wasn't there. "AKIRA!"

"What?" His voice called from a few aisles away, showing that he was still in the store.

"Did you find anything?" The Hokage's missing daughter noted that footsteps began to work their way back to them, and Akira was back in full view...and he was carrying a large, single bladed axe . "An axe?"

"Yep. I took your advice, and looked for a weapon I could use with both hands, and _this_ seemed like it could do some damage once I figure how to use it."

"Yes it could. Good choice. Now...clothes. You will not look like civilians anymore. If you are going to be shinobi, you have to dress the part. There should be a changing station around here somewhere…"

**-_a few minutes later_-**

"Both of you have been in there long enough! It's time to see how you look!" The childhood friends pushed the curtains out of the way, and stepped out in their new looks that they hand picked. Noboru now sported a red, short sleeved gi with yellow trimmings and a matching sash over a mesh shirt, and his beige pants were replaced with loose fitting charcoal-colored ones that had a pouch strapped to the right leg. His hands were also covered by tipless black gloves. Akira was pretty much wearing the exact opposite of his fellow apprentice, with a long-sleeved, dark blue, and hooded jacket with a blue-green inside, giving him an overall more 'cold' appearance, but his own pants were stark white, like Anza's. He also had a leather strap wrapped around his torso, so that when they bought all the items, he had a place to put his rather large weapon. "...I think I know what codenames to give you now. How do your outfit's feel?"

"I like it. It feels much better than what I was just wearing...but why won't you let us have shoulder plates, or other pieces of armor?" said the now red-bearing Noboru.

"Because I don't want you to have them at this moment. Even though you both are older than me, I'm the one calling the shots _and_ have all the money."

"...point taken."

"And to answer your question, I quite like my new clothes. People will underestimate my strength because they can't see my physique." said Akira.

"Not when they see that giant axe strapped to your back, but smart thinking nonetheless. Let's go pay for all this stuff, I'm sure Glacius and Umbra are waiting for us." Nodding in agreement, the two ninja-in-training followed her to the counter, and after pulling out about eighty-thousand ryo and leaving the store, Anza handed Noboru and Akira their masks. "From now on, you never take these off unless I say so."

They put them on. "Okay...but what are our codenames?" asked the one in blue.

"Simple." She pointed at Noboru. "Nobi." She moved her finger to Akira. "Gekiro. Those are what you will be called in public places."

'Nobi' nodded, liking that. "Wildfire...cool. And do we get that 'hunt' symbol too?"

"I'll write it on in a bit, don't worry. Now, let's get going. We have lots of ground to cover, jobs to do, and to effectively train you both, we need a lot of forest." The self-proclaimed Uzukage and missing-nin led her small group out of the village, waving goodbye to the locals as they did.

* * *

**A.N.: Sorry if everything is going by at a snail's pace again. I need to build things up before going into the inevitable shit-storm that will come to the two groups of heroes' way.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 44**

In the residence that housed the Fourth Hokage and his family, a nice, simple quiet ruled over the building...until a resounding *THWACK* echoed across the floorboards."Grr...damn it! Five days...five days and no one can discern this new groups movements?!" Minato struck the only object that adorned his study, the desk, again, making it groan under his strength. In an effort to cool down and not destroy the wooden object by accident, he stood up, and walked over to one of the walls. 'Scattered reports that make no sense and might not even be the same people...no descriptions of what they look like, just the work they've done...at least we know what Akatsuki seem to wear as their uniform, these people are a complete mystery...'

The door to the room opened, and when he turned to see who it was, his wife stood in the doorway, concern easily readable on her face. "Is everything alright? I could hear that from the living room."

In response, he ran a hand through his blonde spikes and sighed deeply. "Sorry about that...but no. For almost a week now I've had the Intelligence Division see if they can find any trace of these mercenaries that, and I'm paraphrasing here, almost singlehandedly ended a war, and they haven't found a single thing. It's as if they aren't even real...or have someone covering their tracks..."

"You're worried that they may have ties to Akatsuki, aren't you?"

"Yes...are these people friends, or foes? Neutral, and only in it for the money? If they are affiliated with Akatsuki, will they go after the rest of the jinchuuriki? After Anza? Have they already gotten her, and that's why there hasn't been any sightings? Will they come knocking on our door in order to get Mito? I just don't know...and that's why I'm so frustrated! I don't know what I'm dealing with here! I need information!"

"Did you let Jiraiya know about them?"

"The very first day. I sent a messenger toad with the article and the mission to find out as much as he could before he was suppose to return, which is tomorrow. I just hope he had better luck than I did…"

The Uzumaki came up to him and gave a playful punch into his chest. "Of course he did, he's Konoha's resident spymaster. He always get's the info he's looking for, no matter how hard it is to dig up."

At her words, his worries eased up a bit. "Yeah...yeah...you're right. Thanks, Kushina. I needed that." He kissed his wife on the forehead. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not today, but you can tell me after we're done with dinner."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Are we going somewhere?"

"I think we deserve a night out, away from the stress of Akatsuki and these new people, even for just an hour. Let's go on a date."

"Then let's tell the kids, and we'll have a great night, with just the two of us."

"Great! But where are do we want to eat?"

He chuckled. "I don't know about you, but I don't want Ichiraku's. I want to go someplace more...romantic...like a _real_ restaurant."

The redhead pouted. "Fine...but we're eating there tomorrow after you meet up with the perv."

"A _super_ perv, you can't forget the super." he reminded her, and they laughed as Kushina looped her arm around her husband's, walking out of the relatively dark study.

**-_meanwhile_-**

"What did I say about lying on the ground?! Get. Up!" yelled 'Chimera' to her three students. They were in a remote section of a forest...somewhere. After teleporting away from the Land of Honey, they just wandered around, so they didn't really know where they were. All they knew was that today was going to be full of training...which started with Anza throwing Akira, Haruka, and Noboru into a quick sparring match with her.

"Can...can we take a break?" asked the man going by 'Nobi'.

"Why? You're not tired, are you?"

He stood up, with his fellow apprentices following suit. "A little bit...and sore...who agrees with me?"

Akira put the head of his axe onto the ground, and raised his hand. "Me…"

The tiny Uchiha shook her head. "Not me! I've been doing this for two years, I can't be tired with only a little bit of fighting!"

The snow-haired missing-nin sighed. "We'll take a break in a bit. I know that two of you aren't able to fight for long periods of time yet, especially when you have weapons that you don't know how to use. For now though...come at me! Show me that fire I know you have!"

"With pleasure! Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" An uncountable amount of fireballs shot out of the opening in her mask, and Anza sighed at her daughter's use of a fire jutsu.

'Well...at least we're not on a job at the moment. If she burns down the forest, we can just flee the country before we get another 'Lightning Incident'...' Not fully willing to have her coat burned to ash, she discreetly turned on her Sharingan and began dancing around the flames, with none being able to hit her. Once the onslaught ended and she began to slow down, the flame colored sword user made his move, approaching her as fast as he could and slashing at her arm, but she simply grabbed it, her gauntlet keeping her from getting a gash. "Not bad, not bad, using your teammate's technique to cover your advance. No training, yet you have an idea on what to do. To bad that your attacks are too weak to do any real damage, but you simply don't know how to use it." As he tried to pry it from her grasp, she pulled him in and began pelting him with blows, ending with an uppercut that lifted him off the ground, but she grabbed his leg before he could go anywhere.

'This...is going to hurt in the morning...' He was right. Anza slammed him into the ground hard enough to make an indentation half an inch deep, and stars started to swim in his vision. 'Yep...ow...'

"Welp...Nobi's out. What do we do now?" asked Gekiro to his remaining ally.

"I don't know! Uh...rush her?"

"You go first. I can't run very fast with this damn thing, so you're going to have to get an opening for me."

"Sounds good." Haruka pulled out two kunai and charged at her 'mother', who was expecting nothing less, and began randomly attacking different parts of Anza's body, but the half-Uzumaki easily manouvered around the daggers, not being anywhere near pressured enough to have to deflect.

"You're going to have to go faster than that!" Her adopted daughter didn't say anything as she tried to stab two places at once, only to have that foiled when the older girl twisted her body to avoid harm. From her position, she could see Akira moving behind Anza and beginning to stalk towards the battle, axe at the ready.

'...doesn't he know she can sense him? Maybe he's hoping that I'm diverting her attention enough to make his presence unoticeable...that won't work...' Her hypothesis was correct, as when he put on a burst of speed and swung his giant downward, Anza stopped dodging, pushed Haruka away, and side-stepped to avoid the potentially deadly strike.

"Nope. Not quick enough!" Before he could even recover from the jarring stop, she got under his measly defence and landing a kick into his abdomen, sending him into the nearest tree, where he slid down, and decided to stop fighting at the moment. "Hm...looks like they can't continue...maybe I over did it a little...okay guys, we're done with this! Take five!"

"I'm...going to need...more than five…" groaned the hooded man.

"...fine, ten. Umbra, could you get Nobi?"

"No problem!" As Anza went to sit next to Glacius, the little girl went to her still dazed comrade and peeled him off the ground, using herself as a support to keep him standing.

"Thank you…"

"Your welcome!" They hobbled over to Akira and helped him up as well, and they joined their sensei and her second-in-command on the ground.

"That wasn't bad, you three. Actually kind of reminds me of when I had my genin test...but that could be because I have nothing else to compare it too...I'm rambling. Sorry." said the runaway Konoha-nin.

"That's fine...but do we _really_ need to wear these masks at the moment? No one is anywhere near us." asked Noboru.

"Eh, you can never be too careful. Someone might have figured out a way to get under a sensor's radar, so until we get in a room, we keep these things on."

"Don't...really know what a sensor is...but that makes sense."

"Unless you show aptitude for it, I won't bother explaining it."

"Thanks." he sarcastically spat before settling into silence...but damn it, he doesn't like silence! "Hey...can you answer a question?"

"Another one? Sure. We have a few minutes to kill anyway, so shoot."

"Why do mercenary work? If you're a criminal wanted by an entire country and it's allies, why not hide in some far off island, or something? They would never be able to find you."

"And you're right about that. If I truly wanted to hide, they wouldn't be able to find a trace of me, but I like to help people. It's what I grew up on, what I fantasized about, and what I want to do with my life, even if I'm forced to have to do it illegally. I don't really care if I'm found out, as long as I can keep doing what I love, keep doing the right thing...I'm happy. And if I can teach others to do the same, even better."

The stars came back into his vision...but they were only around the black and white clad fourteen year old. 'She's...perfect...and she's only a year younger than me...' "You know...you hit all the marks. When you don't have that mask on, you're good on the eyes, and your personality is pretty well sought after. Did you have a boyfriend before you left Konoha?"

"No...why?"

"You didn't? Well...when we're in a village with a movie theater, would you like to go catch one with me?"

"...I know what you're asking me, and no. First, I won't go on a date with my student, even if he's only a year or two older than me. Second, I don't like men that way, and third, I won't let someone get that close to my heart again. Only invites trouble and hurt in the long term."

A thundercloud seemed to choose Noboru's head as it's target as he learned the hard truth. "I just don't have any luck in the love game, do I?"

"I guess not. First you hit on a man that looks like a girl, and then you ask out someone who isn't interested in the opposite gender. Keep trying, though. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I. Anyway, all of you, prepare your minds. We're going to be doing some chakra control exercises."

The eight year old pumped her fist into the air. "Yes! I will walk on those trees if it's the last thing I do!"

"Wait...you're going to make us walk on trees?! Are you insane?!" yelled Akira.

"I'd say I'm _slightly_ insane, but only Umbra is, as she has moved past the basic test of control, unlike you two, who have no idea on how to use your chakra. Am I right?" The teens from Miramashi nodded in agreement. "I thought so." Anza stood up, and in a show of her skills, walked up one of the trees, plucked out a handful of leaves, and jumped back down without so much as a sound. "The original goal of the exercise I'm having you two do is to have a leaf stick to your forehead using only your chakra, but as I just said you can't take off your masks, try to stick it to your arm. It should give around the same amount of experience."

"But...if we haven't used chakra before, how can we get the leaf to stick?"

"Just focus on making the leaf stick. Focus hard enough and you'll eventually get a slight tingly feeling, which would be your chakra running through your body. Then all you have to do is practice, and you'll be able to call forth chakra at any time, but in order to use jutsus, you'll need to use hand seals, and I'll teach you them when you manage to complete this task." She handed each one of the duo half of the leaves, and set her students off to train.

"Goddamnit, stick to my arm, you green bastard!"

"Two years! Two years, and I still can't climb you! JUST LET ME WALK ON YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES!"

Both Anza and Haku sighed. 'It's going to be a _long_ couple hours...'

**-_the next day, Konohagakure_-**

The door to the Hokage's office clicked open, and when the Yellow Flash glanced up from his work, he saw the characteristic spiky white hair of the Toad Sage. "Sorry I'm a little late, I had to take an extra stop on my way here."

"It's fine, sensei. Please, take a seat." Jiraiya nodded, and sat down on the other side of the desk. "How was your trip?"

"It was as normal as it could get. I'm still waiting for the time where something goes horribly wrong here while I'm gone for months at a time, but as far as I can tell, that hasn't happened." he joked, getting Minato to smile a bit.

"Nothing of note, anyway. The only problem's at the moment are the strange activities at the Academy. It's as if they lost all self-control, but after I made a speech there two days ago, reports of pranks have gone down, so I think everything's back to normal." He set down the pen, and looked the Sannin in the eye. "So...what have you learned about Akatsuki?"

"Nothing we already know. The only things of note are that in a few of the villages I visited, there have been sightings of men wearing their cloaks, but no one could recall what they looked like as it's been a long time since they saw them. Until they make a move, I don't know how much I can find out."

The Hokage sighed. "So no jinchuuriki have been taken?" Jiraiya shook his head. "That's good, at least. That gives us some more time to prepare. And what about the new people I asked you to look for?"

The older man frowned. "Considering that you sent that message to me only a week before I was set to return _and_ that the article was printed three months ago in a rather far off country, I haven't made much progress, and whenever I asked someone if they heard about the mercenaries that ended the war between the Land of Fangs and the Land of Claws, they hadn't heard that it ended and had no idea what I was talking about. I simply haven't had the time I need to find out more."

"Then...we won't know anything until you move out again."

"Which won't be for a few days. I'm sorry, Minato. I'll be sure to find-"

"SCREEE!" The two high-ranked shinobi turned at the shrill noise, and there sitting on the open window was a hawk with a message strapped to it's back. "SCREE!"

"I take it that's yours?" asked the blonde.

"Yeah...it must have be from one of my men…did they find something?" Jiraiya got up from his chair and walked over to the bird, unrolling the piece of paper it carried. After reading it's contents, he couldn't help but grin. "Well, Minato, it's a very..._very_ long shot, but I think I may have a lead on those mercenaries."

* * *

**A.N.: A shorter chapter, I know, but this is suppose to be like a bridge to the more exciting stuff. **

**Leave a review if you want. **


	45. Chapter 45

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 45**

"Okay, we kinda left in a hurry. Why exactly are we going to another country?" asked the teenager filling in Anza's place in Team Kakashi.

"Because we got an update on some targets yesterday from one of Jiraiya's informants around Kusagakure. I don't know if you've heard about this, but recently, sensei got a report about freelance ninja that ended a war between two countries. Now, as you know, Akatsuki is a mercenary group, and understandably he's worried that they are somehow connected." filled in the stoic jonin.

"That's great and all...but what does this have to do with our guy?"

"If you payed any attention to what I said, you'd figure that out, but I'll make this easier for the four of us...he has heard rumors of a sect of mercs that wear masks from both sides of the border, and he gave us the name of a village that seemingly hired them, so sensei wants us to go see what we can dig up."

"Oh...I see…"

"But why us? Wouldn't a team like Kurenai's be better suited for this kind of mission?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, but Team Kurenai is out on a mission, and due to the possibility that the people who hired the mercenaries could forget most, or even all, of the important details of what they looked like, sensei chose us to get the info, as we're exceptionally fast. We should be at our objective in...I'd say around the same amount of time it would take us to get to the Land of Waves."

"Okay...but where are we going?"

"Miramashi."

* * *

The sound of keys being repeatedly struck echoed throughout the room a certain traitor was staying in. All around him, test tubes filled with anything you can name, from brains to hair samples, were standing silently, watching over him. 'I've finally done it...it took a couple years, but I've finally cracked it...' After a few more button presses, Kabuto saved the file and got up, making his way through the twisting hallways of the hideout. 'Oh...Lord Orochimaru is going to like this...' Coming to a grand door, he opened it, and sitting on an ornate throne was the snake himself, boredom marring his face.

"Kabuto...you don't bother me unless you've come across something..._important_. What is it?"

"You know that stubborn little blood sample you collected a long time ago?"

"Yes...what of it?"

"I now know why it was so much trouble. Come, take a look for yourself."

"Oh? Interesting...very well." Orochimaru pulled himself off of his chair. "After you." The bespeckled man nodded, and led his master back to the lab.

"You remember how it never accepted any of the cells we gave it? That it wouldn't multiply no matter how strong the donor? _It was because we weren't thinking about who it was_. We were going about it all wrong."

The Sannin's eyes widened at the realization. "Her DNA was too strong."

"Correct. I had a hypothesis, so I helped myself to one of your special samples. Actually...I had to borrow _two_, but it worked in the end." Pulling on a pair of gloves, he opened one of the cabinets, and brought out three vials. "See, if we gave it _this_…" Kabuto showed Orochimaru the one not labeled. "It would be consumed in a heartbeat. For all intents and purposes, this one would be killed. It was because of this, and many other failed experiments, I decided to use more powerful DNA...and what I found is shocking." He set that one aside, and uncorked the one that said 'Tobirama'. "Watch what happens when I add this to hers." The spy poured some of the liquefied contents of the vial into the petri dish, and the Sannin leaned into the microscope to watch something very strange.

"It's...turning on itself. Some of the cells are attacking the others, with Tobirama's joining in…"

"That's right. Even on the molecular level, Uchiha and Senju are fighting each other to the bitter end. Fascinating, isn't it?"

"Indeed...all that's left in this one is Uzumaki and Senju DNA...and I bet the same thing would happen if we introduced Uchiha cells instead of Senju cells."

"I tested that, and you're right, so I decided...if adding one made them turn on the 'enemy'...what would happen if I added both?"

"And what happened?" In response, Kabuto pulled out another plate, and replaced the one with only Senju-related cells with it. "Hm...they're not fighting. Instead, they seem to be...bolstering each other, working together, living side by side."

"Exactly. Anza's DNA is a perfect blend of the two clans, but the slightest increase in either side, and with such pure examples to boot, will tip the scales to one or the other without the rest of her body. In order for me to get _that_ result, I had to get the portions exactly the same and introduce them at the same time so they didn't attack the opposing cells."

Orochimaru stood up. "Excellent work, Kabuto. I knew you could do it, even though it took you so long."

"Well, with all the other experiments you needed to get done, and the preliminary results, I didn't spend as much time on this as I should have. My apologizes."

"When can I expect a clone?"

"I'm...not sure. I'd have to successfully separate the nucleus of an egg from _our_ resident Uzumaki, which I haven't exactly had experience doing before, then separate and implant one of Anza's blood cells into it. And if we wanted to make the clone become old enough to be able to fight and think carefully in a short amount of time, it'd take even longer to get the right fluids to replicate the conditions of a womb during pregnancy in a tube _and_ safely accelerate the aging process."

The pale man frowned. "So not for some time."

"Give me a month or two, and I should have something for you."

"Then get to work as soon as possible. Sasori is expecting you to make a return in a few days, and I still need him to believe you're under his jutsu."

"Right, right. I'll just run some simulations, see the initial probabilities of success, and then when my business is done with your old partner, I'll make my way to where Karin is so I can begin the experiments."

"Good. I leave this in your hands, then. I have...other things to do." Letting out a final chuckle over his luck, he left his right hand man alone in the lab, who went back to typing on his computer.

**-_a day later, with Team Seven_-**

"This looks like a nice town. Doesn't strike me as a place that would need to hire mercenaries." commented Mito upon passing through the gates that welcomed all to their destination.

"That maybe so, but a lead is a lead, and we need to get to the bottom of this rumor. Let's go ask around. One of the shop owners must know something." said Kakashi, and he led the teens into what looked like a convenience store. As the younger ninja looked around, he went up to the counter and stared at the clerk.

"May I help you, sir?" she asked.

"Actually, you can. Do you know where I come from?"

"Yes, from Konoha, in the Land of Fire. You're headband gives it away."

He chuckled. "Yes it does. I have brought my team to figure out some things, and I would like you to answer some questions for me."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Thank you. Have you heard about a band of mercenaries passing through the area?"

"Why, yes! I personally didn't see them, as I was working when they left, but they saved us!"

The silver haired man raised his visible eyebrow. "Saved you? From what?"

"Bandits. A month ago they set up camp down south and began attacking the caravans that were our lifeblood. When we thought it was all over, they swooped in like guardian angels, and took care of them all while also saving the few who were taken hostage!"

"Well, I'm glad that everything worked out, but do you happen to know if they were hired or not?"

"No, but the mayor might know."

"And where would he be?"

"His office is located on the other side of town. Just look for the building with the large 'Town Hall' sign."

Kakashi brought out his wallet, and took out a couple ryo. "Thank you for your time. I think you deserve some kind of payment for me bothering you."

The woman gave a reassuring smile. "It's fine, business has been slow today anyway, but may I ask why you're looking for those mercenaries?"

"...I'm sorry, but I can't disclose that information. All I can tell you is that the Hokage wants to know if these people could have anything to do with ones that he's heard about."

"...that's not vague at all."

"It's meant to be." He turned to the rest of his team. "We're ready to move out, are you guys done?"

"Yeah, we have the drinks! After we pay for them we can go." answered the blonde, and like she said they left the little store once everything was bought. It took a few minutes, but they made it to the building the clerk described, and walked inside, where there was a man behind a desk and computer at the far wall.

"Hello, we would like an audience with your mayor." announced the Fourth's surviving student once in front of the secretary.

"What for?"

"We want to know more about these mercenaries that you hired."

The man's eyes widened at the mention of the Konoha-nin's objective. "He's free at the moment, so you can just walk right in. Go down the hallway and take the last door on the right."

Bowing his head in thanks, Kakashi and his charges followed the directions to the office, where he knocked on the door. 'Got to be polite.'

"The door's open! You can come in!" The jonin did so, and they walked into the rather spacious room. "Konoha shinobi? What brings you four so far away to my humble village?"

"If I'm right...you."

Hideki narrowed his eyes. "Take a seat."

Kakashi nodded and complied, taking the only other seat in the room. "Okay…"

"Hideki, call me Hideki."

"Okay Hideki, I want you to tell me...did you hire some mercenaries recently?"

"Yes, I did. I had no choice, but I don't regret it one bit. They saved this town and all the civilians in it where I couldn't."

"I heard. Just to make sure the story is correct, you hired them to kill bandits, right?"

The mayor nodded. "Correct, and they completed the job in little over an hour, with bloody results."

Now it was the other man's turn to narrow his eye. "Bloody?"

"Two of my villagers went with them to see if they were lying about being able to take care of our problem, and the tale they told of the battle...no, it was more akin to a slaughter, was...rather terrifying. The leader, a girl, tore each and every bandit she came across apart with her bare hands, not even bothering with weapons, her raw strength being more than enough. They recounted limbs being ripped off, heads being caved in, bisections, and that's not getting into the other two."

"Let's get back on track. What did these people look like, and could you tell me their names if you know what they are?"

"Easy enough. The one I correctly deduced as the leader called herself Chimera, and she wore a pitch black haori with metal shoulder pads over white clothes. She also wore gauntlets and boots of material matching the pauldrons, and a mask with the words 'juyon' and 'kari' on it, with the latter being shared by her teammates. Out of all of them, she had the strangest hair, a shade of white that I've only heard resided in the Land of Snow. The other was a black-haired man who went by Glacius, and he wore a green kimono over brown clothes. He too wore a mask, but interestingly, his had Kirigakure's symbol, but it was covered up by the 'kari' written over it. The last one was, to my surprise, a small girl who looked like she was around seven or eight years old, but if those two were right, was far deadlier than she looked. Her codename was Umbra, and she wore a single-sleeved black jacket over a black shirt and pants. On the arm that I could see, she had what looked like 'buki' tattooed onto it. Her hair was black and curly, and like her two older comrades, she also wore a mask with 'kari'."

The three teens shared a look. 'That tattoo sounds an awful lot like the seal Anza has...'

Hideki noticed them glancing at eachother. "Do you know that one?"

"No...she just sounds a little like someone...we used to know." said Mito. 'And the other one, Chimera...hair white as snow...ripped apart bandits...wears the same colors that Anza wore back in Konoha...it sounds too much like her to be a coincidence...'

Kakashi had the same thoughts as his students, and stood up. "Then I guess we're done here. We came here to find out more about these mercenaries, and now we do. It was nice meeting you, Hideki, but now we have to go back and tell what we've learned." Before he could get to the door, the young leader of Miramashi stopped him.

"Wait, I'm not done yet. As they were leaving, the two men who saw them in action, Akira and Noboru, joined them, so there isn't just three anymore."

"...I see. Thank you. I hope you have a good day."

"You too." The jonin lead his team out of the office, and they began the long trek back to their home.

* * *

"So what did you guys find out?" asked Minato when Team Seven entered his office.

"It's Anza." said Kakashi, getting his sensei to tilt his head in confusion.

"...come again?"

Mito decided to take over for for the more experienced shinobi."It's Anza, dad. When we asked Miramashi's mayor what they looked like, one of the people he described was 'Chimera', a girl who had the whitest hair he'd ever seen, and she wore the same kind of clothes that Anza wears, right down to the coat."

"Are you sure it's her? Anza can't be the only girl in the world with white hair and a tendency to wear haoris."

"I'd bet all I have on it. Chimera was said to tear apart the bandits, and as we know, Anza was...abused...by bandits after falling off the cliff, and she was brutal in killing people she didn't like. Remember how the Taki shinobi's corpses were described after she killed them for hurting Fu?"

"How could I not? A man impaled to a tree with Kubikiribocho, one having a deep cut in his shoulder that barely stayed connected to his body, another with their heart crushed outside their body...it's not something you can forget, especially when it turns out it was your other daughter."

"Well, that's pretty much what he described, and to further our theory, Chimera had a little girl with her, said to look around eight, called Umbra. Umbra had dark, curly hair, like Haruka, wore clothes similar to when Anza first introduced herself as Menma, and had 'buki' on her left arm. Anza has the same word on her right, and that's the Blood Forming Seal, something only she would know. The mercs are her, Haruka, and some others, dad. It has to be!"

He took in a deep breath. "That...does make it seem that they are the mercenaries...but we can't jump to conclusions without photos. Was there any?"

"Uh...no, not that we could find."

"Then we just don't know if it's them."

"Why won't you just believe that it's true?!"

"Because I don't want to get my hopes up! If I believe that it's her, and it turns out that's not true, I'd be devastated, because then we're back at square one, not having a single clue as to where she is, or even if she's still alive! Mito, what would you do if it wasn't her, and instead she was dead, taken a long time ago by Akatsuki?!" After saying his worst fear, he leaned back into his chair, and put a hand on his forehead. "I'm sorry. Thinking like that won't do us any good. Just...tell me what else you found out."

Kakashi took the reigns back from the female jinchuuriki. "The mercenaries seem to like to wear masks with the word 'hunt' on them, giving us a rather easy way to spot them. There's also three others besides Chimera and Umbra: Glacius, Noboru, and Akira, with the later two just joining them after they completed the mission the mayor gave them."

"Thank you. That gives us something to look for. Dismissed." Once all four left him alone in the office, he let his head rest in his hands. 'I hope Kakashi and Mito are right...because if they're not...then I can't make things right with her...'

* * *

**A.N.: I never forgot about Orochimaru, he's too much of threat. Will he get his clone, or will he be stuck with what he's got?**

**Guest: Thanks! It's nice to know I'm doing _something_ right, despite thinking otherwise.**


	46. Chapter 46

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 46**

Wandering in the dead of night wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, if you asked the flame-colored Noboru. Especially when they've been weaving between lumber for hours on end, and hadn't met a single village in _days_. "Are we going _anywhere_? Are we lost, or something?"

"...a little." responded his younger, but far stronger leader.

"Do we have a map? Anything at all to help us figure out where the _fuck_ we're going?"

"A map wouldn't really help, as we don't really know where we are, and no. I don't have a map. If you haven't found out by now, we just walk around, and if we find people in need or come across a village, we go to them. You need to learn that the randomness of adventure is what makes the destination worth it. I'm trying to get you, Gekiro, and Umbra to learn that, so don't worry about everything else."

"But wouldn't knowing where we are help us find those people?"

"Yes...but I also have to train the three of you, and being on the job only makes things take longer. Umbra knows my routine by now and knows what to do in order to keep herself challenged, but you and Geki don't, so I have to spend more time on you both." After giving her reason, she looked up, past the branches, and noticed the moon high in the sky. "Hm...I guess we should set up camp for the night. You all know what to do."

"Yeah, stand back around fifty feet. Moving now." said Haruka, and she and Glacius grabbed the other two and jumped back. Once feeling that they were not going to be in the construction process, Anza called on Isobu's chakra and planted her hand onto the ground. Not soon after, a dark purple substance started to creep around the point of contact, quickly forming a round floor forty-feet in diameter, and building itself up into a domed building, with a single door at the front and a small hole at the top.

"There...kind of wish I could make a better house than this…"

"**You could, as you have complete access to my power, but you don't really try to."** said the giant turtle.

'...that's a good point...eh, it'll work. There's enough space for us, and that's all I care about.' The door she created opened behind her, and the rest of her posse came into the dark, single room residence.

"Okay, even though I've seen you make quite a few of these, it's still cool to watch. Will we learn how to create houses out of nothing, too?" asked Akira.

"Uh...no. Sorry. I...never learned how to make earth houses, and you won't be able to create the same things I can, as this can only be done if you're the jinchuuriki of Isobu."

"...who?"

"Isobu, better known as the Sanbi, resident giant turtle with a timid streak that makes it hard to not love him, and could crush you under his weight like it's nothing."

"...oh. Sounds...nice."

"He is, and so are his brothers. Maybe one day I'll let you into my mindscape and you can meet them, but frankly, I think you're minds aren't strong enough to make a connection with mine yet. A few more weeks, maybe...anyway, close the door so I can put the seal on it." Akira did as told, and after she put the familiar piece of paper on it, she took off her mask, and brought out their sleeping bags, firewood, and dinner from her storage seals.

"...venison? When did you kill a deer?" asked Haku.

"While they were doing chakra exercises. A simple Kage Bunshin, and no one will notice that you're gone for a few minutes. Anyway...we should start cooking these." Using her connection to the house and the Sanbi, she willed a few tendrils to form out of the floor and go over the wood, making something like a grill. Using a basic fire jutsu, the logs started to smoke, and the white-haired Uzumaki placed the meat on the special coral. "And now we wait."

**-_later_-**

Noboru and Akira were tossing and turning in their places of rest, the meal having a rather profound effect on them. A _negative_ effect, to be exact. "Ugh...next time we have deer...I'm passing. It's not agreeing with me…" said the man in the hooded coat.

"Same here...who would of thought I would find a type of meat I didn't like…"

"Heh...yeah. You always devour things like steak as if they were your last meal, even when you're full, but when you bit into that venison...it looked as if you were tasting the strangest thing on earth."

"That's because it was! It didn't taste good at all! That shouldn't be possible!"

"Hey, quiet down a bit! You don't want to wake everyone up, do you?"

"Sorry…" The younger of the duo went back to trying to go to sleep, but after a few minutes of his stomach gurgling, he decided that that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. "Hey, Akira? What do you think of these three?"

The lighter haired man sat up at his friend's question. "Why?"

"I just want to know. Can't go to sleep, so hopefully talking will eventually make me tired enough to hit the hay."

"Oh. Well...I like them. Haruka always keeps things light and cheerful with her constant smile and child-like thought processes, Haku doesn't really speak all that often, but he's not distant either, always willing to help us with things when Anza doesn't say we need to figure it out for ourselves, and for our leader...she's strong, acts kind to us despite us failing exercises, passionate about what she does…"

"Maybe a little _too_ passionate...I can still feel that uppercut from around a week ago…"

"Yeah...but something is...off. Sometimes, I notice...something in her eyes. I can't really describe it, but it disappears as quickly as I can find it, like she knows about it and can hide it."

"So you can see it, as well?" whispered another voice, getting the one lying down to sit straight up.

"Haku? You're awake?"

"Yes. I wasn't really tired, so I've just been thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing important, just what my life could have been like if it took a different path, but Akira...you notice the changes in her eyes?"

"Wait...so it's not just my imagination?"

"No. I can see them too. You want to know what I think they are?"

"Um...sure?"

"I think it's because she's hurting inside. From what she's told me, she has almost nothing left. No family, having to abandon the one she calls 'sister' in the place she used to call home, no friends besides us and Daku, no people to lean on; to tell her if she's done a good job...all she has left to love is Haruka. If anything were to take that away...I know it wouldn't spell anything good. That little girl is one of the few things keeping her intact, or maybe it's the only thing, I don't know. What I do know is that I have to protect them both...and you two, as well. You're now part of this little family, so please...help me help her. Don't mention this conversation to her, and try to keep her from falling into the depths of the past. Give her something else to fight for. Be friends she can count on, not just her students."

The young men glanced at each other, and nodded, coming to the same conclusion. "We will." said Noboru.

No one could see it, but the effeminate male smiled. "Thank you. Good night."

"Good night." They both returned, and soon they finally managed to pass on to the world of dreams despite their stomach pains.

**-_in the morning_-**

"Oh hey, look! Civilization!" yelled the now masked Nobi, pointing past the trees to a couple houses, getting the black and white-clad jinchuuriki to look in that direction.

"Hm...you're right. A village, albeit a small one if the signatures are anything to go by. Might be worth our while, so let's go take a look."

"Do you think it has hot springs?" asked the Uchiha.

"Dear Kami I hope so." Well, upon closer inspection, this town did _not_ have a hot spring much to their disappointment, but it did have a local watering hole, so the group of five went there. "Okay, we have to blend in. I'm going to the bar inside, spread out, sit with the people, and listen for any information."

"Roger." With Glacius' confirmation, they wandered into the establishment, where they took their positions.

"What can I get you?" asked the bartender as soon as Chimera sat down on a stool.

"Sake. Don't care how it comes."

"Saucer it is, then." The man procured her order, set it down in front of her, and went to the next customer after she handed him some money.

"**I thought you weren't going to drink again. Like...**_**never**_**."** reminded Chomei.

'It's only one drink.'

"**That's what you said **_**last**_ **time, and you know how that turned out."**

'...shut up. It makes me...less of an outsider to these people. If we want to get a job, we have to look approachable. You know this.'

"**How are you going to drink it, then? If you lift your mask, I know for a fact that someone will recognize you. Whiskers, white-hair, purple eyes...I can't name one other person who fits that description."**

'...shit, I didn't think about the 'how'...well...now's good a time as any to figure out Kakashi-sensei's trick...' Grabbing the saucer, she brought it to where her mouth was and tilted it toward her...but it began spilling, so she set it back onto the counter. 'Fuck it, I'll figure it out later. I guess I'll just use a genjutsu...' The Hokage's daughter set up the illusion, allowing her to safely drink the alcohol. After a few minutes of nothing really interesting reaching her ears, she was about to get up and leave when something did…

"...so you lost another one?" said a man to her left.

"Yeah. The boss sent him to the spot near the border, where all the good stuff's at, but like all the other times, he's gone. When I heard about it, I took a trip there, and all I found was his axe. Didn't stay long enough to have what happened to him happen to me. At this rate, we'll have to take a new profession!"

'This sounds like a job...' "Hey!" At Anza's shout, the two older men looked at her. "What is this I'm hearing about? People coming up missing?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Could you tell me more about it? If I knew some specifics, I'm sure I can help you guys out."

He shrugged. "Why not? My boss would like this curse to be lifted." The man got up and moved to the seat next to her. "It started about...two years ago. There's a spot over to the east that has great, strong trees, the type that makes the best pieces of lumber. When we found it, we thought we hit the jackpot, so we began chopping them down, but then things started going wrong. People would go out to the site and never be seen again, so we stopped going there…"

"...I'm sensing a but."

"But eventually, we're going to run out of good trees over here, so we need the ones near the border to keep a profit...but people always go missing, it's only a matter of 'when'. If you want to see what you can do, go to the site just east of here, and start chopping down the trees, that seems to agitate whatever is attacking us."

"Got it. When I come back, we'll discuss my reward with your boss."

"Heh, I'll hold you to that."

Having the info she wanted, she took her leave from the bar and rounded up her team outside of the establishment. "Okay guys, we have our first mission as a group of five: find out what's causing the disappearances of lumber workers."

Haku nodded. "Makes sense. I heard some people talking about it behind me, but I didn't get a location. Did you?"

"Of course. All we need to do is follow where the sun rose from, and we'll find it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Noboru, and he began to march off until his sensei grabbed him by the shirt.

"Wrong way…"

"Right...I knew that…"

She clapped him on the shoulder. "Sure you did." After turning her student to the correct direction, they started the journey to the crime scene.

**-_a few minutes of travel later_-**

"Okay...I see the grooves in the trees where those guy's axes would have hit, so we must be in the right place. Strange...I expected more blood, but there are only a few drops…"

"That means we can rule out animals. Don't they leave more blood when they attack people?" reasoned Haruka.

"In a case like this, yes...so that means a human is behind this. Geki, it's time to make that axe of yours useful."

"Start hitting the trees?"

"Yep. Don't worry, as long as I'm here I won't let whoever is taking people take you."

He gulped, but he reluctantly started chopping up an already damaged trunk, sending noise out into the wild, and hopefully to their marks. Nothing happened for a long time; if we went by Haku's estimates, they were out there waiting for maybe two hours, enough time for Akira to get through half the tree, but finally...a band of four appeared up in the dense foliage. 'Another one so soon? We just got a new body yesterday...ah well, Lord Orochimaru will be pleased to have extra DNA to experiment on...wait a minute...these don't look like the workers that always come here...' "Hold up. Something doesn't seem right about these five. They look like shinobi."

"So what should we do? Should we go back to base and let the man in charge know, or do you want to take them too?" asked one of the others.

"Or how about you guys tell me why you are preying on people?" Almost immediately upon hearing that voice, the men and women jumped to separate branches, drew their kunai, and stared at the armored woman. "Oh? Otogakure? So the neighboring country is the Land of Sound…wow, we traveled rather far…"

"But...how...how did you...you were just down there!"

"You really suck at discerning clones from the real deal, don't you? I could have killed you, you know, but I didn't. Why, you may ask? _You're worth more to me alive_. So...tell me, before I lose my patience: why are you kidnapping people, and where are they? If you do...I'll let you live. I'm a reasonable girl."

For a few minutes, the purple-clad ninja didn't move a muscle, carefully taking in every inch of their potential foe...and they decided it might be best if they ran. "Scatter!" They all jumped in every direction, getting Anza to sigh and activate her eyes.

"After them!"

**-_meanwhile_-**

The sun had risen enough to peek through the curtains of Fu's room, and the subsequent warmth _should_ have started the girls motor functions...but Fu wasn't the soundest sleeper. She wasn't even fully in the bed, only her legs were, the rest was smushed against the wooden floor while her snores reverberated through the room. There is always something louder, though… *BEEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP*

The shrill cries of the alarm snapped her eyes wide open and without truly knowing what was going on she scrambled to the dresser, reached up, and hit the button at the top of clock, stopping the assault on her ears. "Motherfucking alarm...ruin my sleep...even when I don't set you...wait…" Pulling herself off of the ground, she looked at the clock, and right next to it was a note.

'_You really need to start waking up when the rest of us do, so no sleeping in. Yours truly, the Uchiha next door. P.S.: Getting rid of the clock won't help you, if that's what you're thinking.'_

Her left eye started twitching...a sign that she was _not_ amused. "Oh...you bastard…" She balled up the small piece of paper and tossed it into the trash. "I'm _so_ going to get you…" Sneaking out of her room, she tip-toed over to Sasuke's room and slowly opened his door, peeking through the crack, only to see that the raven-haired boy wasn't in there. 'He must be in the shower then..._perfect_...' Closing the door to make it seem like she never was there, the mint-haired teen walked to the nearest bathroom, where the familiar sound of running water started to reach her. 'This is going to be great.' Without warning she kicked the door open, making the occupant behind the shower curtains jump.

"What the-!? Fu?! What are you doing in here?!" shouted Sasuke, confirming her suspicions.

"Get out of there! You've been taking a shower for about an hour now!"

"What?! It's only been...like...ten minutes! I haven't even had the time to wash my hair!"

"No it hasn't! I've been waiting for you to get out so I can take mine, but you just won't finish without using up all the hot water! I'm sick of it!" She started moving towards the toilet, and the Sharingan user had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"D-don't do anything rash! J-just give me a few more minutes and I'll-"

"Nope." Fu flushed the toilet and ran out of the bathroom.

"No...no...AAAAAHHHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"

Snickering at his shouts of pain, she went down to the first floor and plopped down on the couch right next to Mito. "Why do you make him suffer?" she asked.

"Because I find it funny. Plus, I really am tired of waiting a long time for the hot water to come back whenever he takes a shower."

"But is that worth burning him alive?"

"He also set the alarm to go off."

"...never mind." She went back to watching her program, but after a few minutes someone started to knock on the front door. "I'll get it." Standing up from the comfy cushions, she made her way to the entry way and opened the door, where her sensei greeted her.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei? I'm sorry...we're not ready for training exercises just yet. Give us an hour or two, and we'll be at the training ground."

He waved her off. "That's not why I'm here. I've come to let you know there's been a change of plans. We're not training to fight the Akatsuki today, I'm taking you three on a mission. Border patrol, to be exact."

"Okay...to where?"

"Remember those three genin from Otogakure? Dosu, Zaku, and Kin?" The blonde jinchuuriki nodded. "Well, we're going to the country that houses their village. The Land of Sound."


	47. Chapter 47

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 47**

'I can't believe how fast things have gone wrong!' thought one Oto-nin as she hopped through the trees to get away from her pursuer. 'Shinobi! And one's skilled enough to get behind all four of us! That doesn't bode well…' Taking a look back to see if she was still being chased, there was no sign of the masked woman. 'She was just there a minute ago...maybe I got away? Just to be safe...' Jumping down to the ground, she dove behind one of the trees, and stayed as still as possible. 'I need to get back to base...tell everyone that the operations will have to be put on hold for the moment. Just need to stay hidden...' As she took a step forward to set out, a kunai flew in from above and hit the ground directly in front of her. Like out of tales of the Third World War, the woman who was just chasing her appeared out of thin air, grabbed her by the neck, turned her around, and forced her into the tree face-first while twisting her left arm behind her back.

"Nice try, but you can't escape me once I have your signature. Or when you're always in throwing distance."

"Who...who are you?"

"Just a girl that's more experienced than you. Now, as everyone so _rudely_ left before I could get an answer, why are you taking working men while they're on the job?"

"I...I won't betray my village!"

"You're loyalty is admirable..._but_…" Anza pressed up onto the other girl, and moved her head ever-so close to her ear. "...how much is it worth if it's willing to take innocent civilians outside of war? I have a better idea than throwing your life away...you're a rather beautiful woman, and I'd hate to have to kill you...so here's the deal...just lead me to where you're keeping all the hostages, and I...will repay you in full, and then some. Anything you want...I will give it to you."

For a minute, the kunoichi thought about taking the offer. 'In a way, she's right...why does Lord Orochimaru want these people? They can't survive the experiments like well-trained bodies can, they're essentially spare parts...but he promised a better life for all shinobi...for all who have suffered...' "N-no! I won't accept!"

The mercenary sighed. "Then you're useless to me...as you are." The white-haired missing-nin summoned her chains, wrapped them around the ninja from Otogakure so she couldn't escape from her, and forced her eyelids to remain open. "You WILL take me to your base, whether you want to or not." Using the Sharingan, she put her captive under her spell. Once seeing the light leave her eyes, she released her. "Hello. I am Chimera, a mercenary recently hired by your village to add some extra manpower. Can you take me to whoever is in charge around here?"

"Yes…" The girl started walking away, and Anza was internally chuckling.

'Such a weak mind, can't even get out of a genjutsu...maybe my little seductress act made it easier to manipulate her? Even so, I put two layers in it. At best, by the time she breaks free, we'll have already gotten to where the lumberjacks are, and she'll be dead so she can't spread my use of chains to the world.' She fell into step behind her, and began the journey to Otogakure.

* * *

When Anza said 'After them!', Akira and Noboru panicked, and went after one of the purple men together...on the ground. They couldn't go up into the trees yet. "Hey Gekiro...if you're going to jump onto the branches and catch up to him, now would be the time!"

"I wish! We got to figure out how to get him down here, otherwise he's going to get away, and sensei wouldn't like that, I think…"

"So how do we do that?"

"Give me a minute!"

"We don't _have_ a minute!"

"Right...uh...may as well try it…" He took a deep breath. "HEY, BITCH! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! YOU SCARED OF TWO WEAKLINGS LIKE US?! I THOUGHT SHINOBI WERE BRAVE, BUT YOU'RE A GODDAMN COWARD! FIGHT US LIKE A MAN!" This seemed to work, as immediately after insulting him, the Oto-nin stopped moving forward.

"...scared? A coward? How...dare you…" He turned around to face the contrasting duo, and they could tell by the scowl on his face that he was pissed. "I'll teach you to mess with me!" The man launched himself at them, kunai ready to pierce through the first body it meets.

"Oh shit…" Nobi hurriedly unsheathed his sword, and his friend brought up his axe. They barely had enough time to deflect the strike, and using their enemy's momentary loss of form, Akira tried to finish the fight then and there by chopping their enemy in half, but he was much too slow in comparison, the mook easily evading the blow and initiating a counter attack, but the tachi wielder went in front of him and blocked.

"Grr...you two are annoying! Just let me kill you!"

"Sorry, but we like our lives!" Calling upon his reserves of strength, he pushed forward, knocking the other man off balance, and began unleashing a swarm of slashes. Unfortunately, the actual ninja was able to stay on his feet and parried each and every strike, rendering them ineffective, and they started clashing with their metal tools. While those two were fighting, Akira had enough time to move around to the side and try another downward chop, only to hit the dirt again, as the shinobi broke off contact with Noboru and rolled away to safety.

'Damn...he almost got me. These aren't just loud wannabe's...I'm going to have to be careful.' thought the purple-clad man.

'Fuck! I _still_ can't land that attack, even against someone who's much slower than Chimera-sensei!' internally raged the sixteen year-old as he pulled his weapon out of the ground.

"This isn't going very well Geki...we need a plan, or better yet, a jutsu. Please tell me you learned one without me knowing." whispered the flame-colored teen.

"No, sorry...but I don't think we're doing this right. Remember how we were accepted as sensei's apprentices?"

"Yeah...we fought Umbra. We were failing until…" The lightbulb went off in his head, and he smirked beneath his mask. "...we started attacking at the same time."

"Exactly. We're better than we were back then. Let's see how much we've improved."

"Right! Let's go!" They charged back into a battle with a yell, and this time they had the upper hand. The first to make a move was the younger of the two, with a stab to the chest that was, predictably, deflected, but before he could punch Noboru in retaliation, Akira came in swinging, and the Oto-nin couldn't block those.

'Shit!' He did his best to dodge both attackers, but it became clear to the new apprentices that he wasn't even as skilled as Haruka, as they began tearing into his clothes and blood started to drip from freshly created wounds. 'This isn't good! I need to get away!' This wouldn't come to fruition, however, as even after barely scraping past one of the axe's swipes, the long blade nicked his leg, messing up his jump backwards, leaving him completely open.

'Now!' The man in blue rushed forth to his opponent and slashed the kunai out of his hand. The shinobi tried to form some hand seals in order to blast his enemy back, but Gekiro was ready to launch the next strike before he could create the last seal and imbedded his weapon of choice into his chest, sending spurts of blood onto the 'hunt' bearing mask. "Nobi!"

"I know!" Once his friend pulled his axe out of the wound, Nobi ran to the now injured mook, running him clean through his stomach with his tachi before kicking him off the sword.

'I...lost...to these...punks?' thought the purple ninja before succumbing to death in a rapidly growing pool of his own lifeforce.

"Holy shit...we killed a guy…we...we ACTUALLY killed someone…"

"I can see that. Good work, you two." Turning to the branches, they spotted their white-haired sensei before she jumped down next to the body. "But usually, you want to keep the culprits _alive_ when doing an investigation so we can get something out of them."

"We...we didn't have much of a choice. I'm sure he would have killed us if we didn't." said Akira.

"That's a good way of thinking, makes killing other's easier on the conscious. How do you guys feel after that?"

"I don't know...right now, I don't feel any different...except maybe my mind feeling a little heavier...how did you feel right after killing your first person?"

"Ecstatic, but my situation was _far_ different than this. I know that for some people the first kill is hard, so if, after we finish this, you would like to talk, I'm here for you."

"Thanks, sensei. That...would be nice." said Noboru.

"Great. Do you think you're up for the rest of job? There may be more people you'll have to kill."

"Yeah...yeah, I think so."

"Then follow me. The miss is following a member of Oto that she put under a genjutsu, so she created me and two others to get the rest of you."

"...you're a clone, aren't you?"

"Yep. My words are her words, though, so I meant what I said. Now come with me, it'll be a bit before we catch up to the real me."

* * *

The duo were the last ones to arrive to the entrance of the hidden village, Haku and the tiny Uchiha beating them by a long shot. "Ahh, there you two are. Umbra was just about to start betting on when you'd got here." said the short man.

"Betting with money she doesn't have…" mumbled Chimera.

"Whaaat? I needed a way to pass the time while we waited! I can only sit still for so long after being in a fight!"

"Yes yes, I know how you get. I kind of have myself to blame for that...anyway, here's the current situation. Down there, past my barrier, are thirty signatures...but I can't feel anything that would register to me as a civilian. That either means two things: one…" She pointed down to the now-lifeless kunoichi she was following. "...this bitch got out of my genjutsu without me knowing and lead me to a base separate from the village. Unlikely, as my eyes would have caught her disrupting it, but it's still in the realm of possibility. Or two, our marks are dead, and we'll be the bearers of bad news. So are we ready for more fighting?" Everyone nodded, with Haruka also summoning her ebony daggers. "Good. Let's end this job. Watch each other's backs, search every room you can find, and don't let anyone with the Oto headband survive." Anza turned to the descending staircase, dispelled the bright white chain-link barrier over the top of it, and moved down the steps, her group falling in line with her. When they passed through the front door, day changed to night, the only way they could see the ground in front of them were torches on the walls, and they forged downward, eventually finding the first shinobi in the base.

"What the...who the hell are you?!"

"You're executioners." Before he could react, the Namikaze grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck before moving on. Section after section they passed through, killing all they came across, but between all the death they didn't find any signs of the workers...until they barged into what looked like a surgery room, with a body currently on an operating table, freshly used tools right next to it on a metal platter. "I...think we found what we came here for."

Haku went up to the opened up, motionless man, and looked at a counter-top nearby, with jars of flesh and organs floating in them. "It looks like they were harvesting organs from our friend here. More than likely they did the same to the others."

"Probably, but then that leaves the question...why? Why would they need, or better yet _want_, to take organs out of someone? I know there are black markets for this kind of thing, but a hidden village shouldn't need to use them."

"I don't know...but it can't be for anything good. We should clear the last bit of this place out, hopefully stop this from happening again."

"Yeah. There's only one person left, and it had the strongest signature here. This guy's not going to let us kill him without a fight, so stay sharp." Leaving out the way they came in, they stalked through the hallways until entering a wider than normal area, with a throne-like chair at the far end.

The dark, spiky haired man sitting on said chair chuckled. "You _definitely_ aren't Kabuto, hm. For a minute, I thought he decided to clean us out for some reason or another, but I'm obviously wrong."

The whiskered girl narrowed her eyes behind her mask. "Kabuto? Then you must be under the orders of Orochimaru, as that scum was during the Chunin Exams."

"Ah, so you've met him. Chunin Exams, hm? Then I've met you before. You're white hair screams familiar."

"Same with your chakra. I know it, but I just can't recall a face. Not that it matters, I couldn't see at the time, and if I met you during the exams, that means I must have kicked your ass."

He scowled, but then her words triggered something in his memory, and he snapped his fingers. "_Now_ I remember you...you're Menma...or should I say, Anza?"

"And how do you know my real name?"

"I was in the stands during the finals. I saw you attack the Fourth, and I saw you shed your skin and reveal your true form. I bet you don't remember _me_, hm?"

"Nope. Must have not been very strong, because I only remember ones that are worth my time."

His scowl deepened into a snarl. "I'm Zaku, Zaku Abumi!"

"Oh, right, the one that lost to each member of my team at three separate occasions. Terrific shinobi you are."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the same as I was back then, hm. This time, I will beat you AND your little team you've brought here, and then I will give your head as a trophy to Lord Orochimaru."

"Good luck with that, because neither am I. I have become even stronger, so you don't stand a chance."

"We'll see!" Zaku got up from his seat and began his rematch by rushing to her and throwing out a jab, only for her to easily sidestep out of harm's way, yet he didn't stop trying to hit her.

"Pathetic. You and your style are pathetic. Your moves are readable, you're not fast enough to hit me, and your attacks are probably weak. And this is your 'new and improved' form? How laughable."

"Let me touch you and I'll show you just how weak I am!"

"I'd rather you work for it." Dodging another punch, she kicked him with enough force to send him skidding back, and with her new found distance she found the time to form the tora seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The entire room went ablaze with orange as she spat flame at her old foe, who barely avoided being scorched, but she wasn't done. "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" Out of her hands, powerful arcs of electricity spearheaded their way to Orochimaru's follower, and as he ran away from them they left trenches in the ground as they inched closer and closer to him. Once she determined he was far enough away from the others, Anza used the Hiraishin marker that she put on Zaku with that kick and punched, but to her surprise, he caught it and launched his own, which she also catched. "Maybe you _have_ gotten better…"

"I know about your Hiraishin, and I've been training so I could one day be able to beat someone so fast...and you've just gave me the means to do so." Noticing a build up of chakra in his arm, she looked at it, and noticed the skin on his knuckles weren't there, instead seeing dark holes where they should be. Suddenly, she was blown away by his signature jutsu from those very same holes, and when she recovered, she saw him take off his sandals. "I've been improved beyond my best! My lord has increased my capabilities to the point where I can't be beaten by the likes of you again! Die, you bitch!" A shockwave shook the floor, and he rocketed toward her at extreme speeds, and when he got in striking range he stuck one of his feet out, which she caught, and the Hokage's daughter saw...another opening in the middle of his foot.

'...fuck me...' The merc was blown back again, and using his new air tubes, Zaku got ahead of her and charged up his ultimate attack into his hands.

"Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!" More of the surrounding area was devastated, and once the carnage ended, there was no sign of the girl anywhere, not even a shred of cloth. "Heh, must have destroyed her into non-existence. I think I'm going to have to start calling it Annihilation Airwaves, because whenever I use it, nothing is left."

"Oh, get over yourself. You are _way_ too overconfident." His eyes widened, and he turned to see Anza, not a scratch on her. "This entire fight has been in the palm of my hand. I haven't even used Iso, Son, or Cho's chakra yet, you really think you can win?"

"I have to win! I can _never_ lose again!"

"Then prepare to be disappointed!" This time, she called upon a bit of Chomei's power, and before he realized it she tossed him into the air, shot chakra chains that wrapped around his torso, and began to repeatedly slam into the rocky floor, until she decided to end it with the strongest pull she could manage, making a small crater and sending cracks in every direction. Not taking any chances, she kept him tied up as she approached him, and grabbed the still conscious Oto-nin by the collar. "See how quickly I ended this? Once you have my mark and I'm fighting you...your life is forfeit from that day on. Now tell me, why is this village so small, and where is your master?"

He let out a weak laugh. "Lord Orochimaru never stays in the same hideout for too long...so I have no idea where he is. And this...this whole place...was abandoned by him a few months ago, and was changed to a decoy base, and I was recently chosen as the overseer."

She growled at having been duped, but she still wanted some answers. "And what have you done with the organs you've taken from civilians? There wasn't that many in the surgery room."

"Sent them to another base yesterday...after we got the new body, and the person we sent with them won't come back unless another ninja from this base came and got them."

"And we killed them all...damn. Well...I guess I don't need you alive anymore." Anza formed her father's legendary jutsu, pushed it into Zaku's chest, where the technique tore through flesh and bone, effectively becoming a death blow to the man. Once the deed was done, she made her way back to her team. "Let's get back to that town. I'll carry the corpse back with us." No one argued with her.

**-_meanwhile_-**

"I'm glad Mito suggested using the shunshin to get here faster, otherwise this would have taken _forever_!" said Fu as she and the rest of Team Kakashi stood overlooking a peculiar section of the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound.

"Yeah...this place is rather...beautiful to look at...except that statue of Madara. It's eyes seem to stare into my soul." said Sasuke, getting his amber-eyed teammate to nod in agreement.

"To think, that two of our strongest shinobi and fuzzball created this entire valley in a single battle...just how strong were they?" asked Mito to no one in particular, but Kurama answered.

"**Very. Madara himself had a strong enough dojutsu to control me, and was considered the closest to Hashirama in power, and yet the First was able to defeat both him and me, who was complete at the time, simultaneously. If that isn't a feat of strength, I don't know what is.**"

"So are you guys glad that I brought you out here? Better than stewing at home, waiting for any information on Anza?" asked the jonin, getting them all to say 'yes', and he eye smiled at them. "Good. I guess we should get started with the patrol, then. As we need to be thorough, no using the shunshin until we finish a half, then you can use it on our way back to this point. Ready?"

"Yeah." After getting that confirmation from the Uchiha, they unanimously decided to start with the slightly longer west half, following the river as they did...at least until the Kyuubi decided to start shouting into his jinchuuriki's mind.

"**Kit! Kit! **_**Kit!**_"

'What?'

"**I can feel Chomei, Son Goku, and Isobu!"**

'What?! Where?!'

"**Their signatures are coming from the north-west! If we hurry, we can cut them off!"**

She didn't need anymore than that. "Guys! You need to follow me!"

Kakashi stopped advancing and turned to look at her. "Why?"

"Because fuzzball can feel Anza from here! Come on, we're going to have to put the patrol on hold for now! This is our chance!"

His single eye widened a little before narrowing. "Then lead on. I'm not going to let this slip by us."

Taking point, the blonde started using the shunshin to cover more ground, with her team doing the same, and after awhile of non-stop rapid movement, they came across a little village with no more than maybe forty buildings, all made up of wood from the surrounding area. Having the fox guide her through the streets, they eventually came up to a one-story building with four people on either side of the door. On the left were two men playing rock-paper-scissors, and the taller of them wore a dark blue, hooded jacket over white pants, and the other wore a red gi with yellow trim and black pants. On the right...were two people who matched the description Hideki gave about two of the mercenaries. A very short, black haired, black clothed girl with a 'buki' tattoo and a boy in a green kimono. Each and every one of them wore a majority white mask, with the kanji for 'hunt' on their foreheads. 'We found them...we finally found them.'

The little girl and the boy seemed to sense their approach, and after looking at Sasuke, the girl charged, and tackle hugged him. "Sasuke! It's been so long since I've seen you!"

Momentarily stunned at the sudden action, the teen wasn't able to say anything for few seconds, but he got over it quickly. "Is...is that you, Har-"

"Shhhh! You're not suppose to say my real name! On the job, I am Umbra, the Fierce Black Gale!"

"Not...suppose to? Why not?"

"Because mom doesn't want people to know it!"

"And you're mom is...Chimera?"

"Yep! She's inside right now, completing the job. We just got back, you see, and we had some bad news for these people, so she made us stay out here."

'So she knew we were approaching...yet she isn't running? Why?' Shaking off the question for now, he pulled the smaller Uchiha off of his leg. "I'm sorry, but we need to-"

"You don't 'need' to do anything. Our leader wants nothing to do with you, so it might be best to just walk away." butted in the one they figured was Glacius, getting Sasuke to activate his Sharingan.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not trying to be rude, if that's what you're thinking. I'm only reiterating what she's told me."

"Well, it's still pretty damn rude to just cut me off like that."

He shrugged. "It's better to get to the point. Chimera simply wouldn't like to see any of you again, so please, can you leave?" As if she was listening for her moment to come into the picture, 'Chimera' opened the door, and walked out of the building. She looked at each member of Team Seven, shook her head slowly, and then made a gesture with her head to follow her before marching off into the streets. The four Konoha-nin shared a look, but ultimately went after her, with the other mercs coming with them. They left the village far behind, deep into the woods, and finally into a clearing, where she stopped, turned to face them, and removed her mask, showing her spinning eyes and delicate face in full.

"We should be far enough away now, so...let's have a reunion."


	48. Chapter 48

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 48**

The wind itself seemed to slow down at the gathering of the former and present members of Team Seven, barely flicking through their hair as each side stared at eachother. Without really thinking, Fu took the initiative and approached her sister, enveloping the missing-nin in a bone-crushing hug, which Anza returned, a smile on her face. "You're safe…" the active Konoha kunoichi mumbled, getting the whiskered teen to chuckle.

"Well, safe is a relative term, Fu...but yeah. I'm safe. I'm so glad to see you again...I thought I never would."

"This is the second time, isn't it? The second time we've been separated, and finally met up again…"

"Yeah...I'm sorry. I wish it hadn't had to have come to that...but it did."

"Why did you leave?"

"I didn't want to die. I knew that if I stayed...someone was going to kill me while I slept. Again, I'm sorry…"

The mint-haired girl squeezed a little harder. "I understand."

"I knew you would." She let go, and looked at her masked friends and apprentices. "Glacius, Gekiro, Nobi, come meet my sister, Fu."

Said men came up, and the first to offer his hand was the one in the more intricate mask, which the former jinchuuriki shook. "It's nice to finally meet you, Fu. Even though I said she didn't really want to see anyone from Konoha again, you are an exception. In fact, you're one of the people she has no problems with talking about."

"Oh really? What has she said?"

"Just the normal things, like how she'd always have to hit you on the head for some stupid things."

"...that sounds about right. Say...has anyone told you how much you sound like a girl?"

"All the time. Leads to some strange situations, but I learned how to live with it." Haku broke their shake, and went behind his leader as Nobi and Gekiro took his place.

"You're her sister?" asked the one in red.

"Yep!"

"...I'm sorry, I don't see the resemblance."

"We're not blood related. We're just _really_ close."

"Oh. Well...nice to meet you. I'm Nobi, a new student to...Anza, and this is Geki, my best friend and fellow apprentice alongside Umbra."

"Sweet! That means we all can call her sensei!"

"...what?"

"She was technically my first student. After meeting up after around three years, I began teaching her the shinobi arts, like I've been doing with you two." informed Anza.

"So _that_ would explain how you know what to do so well…"

"Yeah...but you are _far_ harder to teach because you were born and raised as civilians, and have no special chakra like she does. You'll be formidable shinobi in time, though, don't worry about that." She changed her gaze to Team Kakashi. "Don't be shy Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei. My team doesn't bite unless I tell them to, and right now, they don't have that order." The jonin and his black-haired subordinate could sense the underlying threat, but decided to mingle for the moment.

"Um...what about me?" asked the blonde, only for her twin to give her the cold shoulder. 'She's...ignoring me. I shouldn't have expected anything less...but for her to not even look at me...it hurts more than I thought it would.' One of the masked men seemed to see the sad look in her eyes, and made their way toward her.

"And what's your name?" asked the one called Gekiro.

"I'm Mito...Mito Namikaze. Anza's twin."

"And _that_ explains the creepy resemblance. You look _just_ like her, minus the whiskers."

"Yeah…"

"Gekiro...get. Away. From. Her." suddenly said the snow-haired kunoichi, getting him to turn to her.

"Um...care to explain why?"

"If you know what's good for you, you will never speak to her again. You have ten seconds, otherwise I am cutting you from your apprenticeship."

"Okay, okay! I'll leave her alone! Just thought that she would like someone to talk to since everyone else was..." He went back to the others, but the way Anza talked to him rubbed Mito the wrong way.

"What the hell, Anza?! All he was doing was-"

"SILENCE! YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME LIKE YOU KNOW ME!" The sheer anger in her voice made the blue-eyed girl take a step back, and after her shout, Anza pinched her nose. 'Calm down...calm down...now's not the time to lose it...not in front of Haruka...' She let out a small sigh. "I will not let you poison my apprentices with your honey-laced words like you did with me. I...will...NOT let you take them from me. You make one move to even come _close_ to them, and I will kill you without a second thought."

Noboru looked at his sensei with wide eyes. "Sensei...how could you say something like that to your sister?"

She let loose an animalistic growl. "Make no mistake...we may share the same parents, but we are NOT sisters. Not anymore."

"What...what happened in Konoha?!"

"She hurt me beyond all comprehension. Worse, she did it with no hesitance. She didn't care if she hurt me, her twin that stood by her side, helping her whenever she needed it, her teammate that always had her back...I may have tried to kill our father in front of her, but at least I had a good reason, even _he_ admitted that. She simply did it because I wasn't forefront with her about my identity. Isn't that right, _sister_?"

"Anza...please…that's not true...I was angry, yes, but-" tried Kurama's jinchuuriki, only to be cut off again.

"Why don't you go ahead and repeat what you told me in the hospital two years ago, so they at least have an inkling of what you put me through? Or have you forgotten? _I know I haven't_."

Sasuke looked at his blonde friend, wide-eyed. "Mito? What did you say to her?"

"I...I said that no one could trust her…"

"That's not all...what else?" goaded her twin.

"And...and that all she says are lies…"

"And all I did was fake my appearance. What a sad human being you are."

Kakashi stepped between the siblings. "That's enough, Anza. You don't have to be so callous about it."

"I'm only returning the favor, Kakashi-sensei, you should know how this works. You were in the Anbu, after all."

"But this is way too far."

She shrugged. "I give out payments where they're due, whether or not it's stepping over the line. That's what I was taught at an early age, that's what I was forged in. I could care less about what everyone else thinks about how I dole out justice."

"You call name-calling justice?"

"Only when the recipient deserves it, but not my fists." She turned around, away from the face of her third teacher. "I see that this has spiralled out of control. I apologize, and we'll show ourselves out...but not before one last thing." Anza took Fu's hands into her own. "Please, come with me. We can travel throughout the world like we did five years ago, you can get to know Geki, Nobi, and Glacius, and you can see how much Haruka has come in terms of being an excellent kunoichi. Please, let's not be separated again."

Her 'sibling' gave a sad smile, and shook her head. "I'm sorry...I can't. I have friends in Konoha, now. I have a life that I truly enjoy living, even though you're not there to make it complete."

Disappointment easily became readable on the whiskered missing-nin's face. "I understand. Then...this is goodbye, for now."

The masked Uchiha went up to them and pulled on Anza's sleeve. "But I want to hang out with Sasuke some more…"

"I know you do...I do as well, but this simply isn't the best time, not with Mito here."

"And when _will_ it be the best time?"

"...I don't know...but we can't stay here any longer. Let's go, guys." Haruka put her head down, but complied with her 'mother', following her alongside the rest of the hunters as they began journeying off to who-knows-where.

From his spot, Sasuke's fists and teeth clenched. 'No...not like this!' He used the shunshin to appear right in front of Anza before she even had the chance to put back on her mask. "No! I'm not letting you leave! You haven't said one word to me besides introducing me to your students!"

"Sasuke...get out of the way. Please."

He shook his head furiously. "NO! You're all I have left besides pictures to remind me of all the times we spent studying under Shisui-sensei and Itachi! Of all the great times we had! I won't let you slip away from me! FROM ALL WHO CARE FOR YOU!" The fourteen year-old Uchiha put down his hand, and in a matter of moments Kakashi's signature jutsu sparked all over him. "You are my best friend, even after being gone for a total of five years and committing treason in the face of our home, but damn it, I won't let you stay out here! You're coming with me, whether you like it or not!"

Upon seeing the powerful technique, Haku put himself in the line of fire. "I don't care if you are my leader's friend...I won't let you lay a hand on her. Not as long as I still draw breath."

"Stand down, Glacius."

He turned his head to look at her. "But miss…" A quick shake of her head silenced him. "Alright...if that's what you want, I'll let you handle this...but please be careful."

"I'll be fine. See you in a bit." Holding out her hands, she concentrated, and the marks she put on all four of her group reacted to her will, making them all vanish in a flash of black. Putting them back down, she smiled at her childhood friend. "You don't know how glad I am to hear that I am still your best friend...but I can't ever return to Konoha, and I won't do it willingly. Do you believe you have the power to bring me back?"

"Truthfully, no...but I have comrades that will help me in doing so!" At his call, Fu and Mito moved up to his side, their eyes narrowed in determination.

"So you all are willing to fight me to drag me back to the place I don't want to go back to, huh? Even you, Fu...I thought you knew why I didn't want to come back."

"I do, and when we're back in Konoha, I will stand guard, making sure no one can kill you."

She sighed. "Of course you won't let me go quietly...fine. Kakashi-sensei, stay out of this. This is a quarrel between your students, you have no right to cut in. If you do...I will not hesitate to kill Mito when I have the chance. Got that?"

"Yes...but if you decide to go back on that...I will personally end this feud."

"Good to see that you understand the gravity of the situation. Take a step back, this could get wild." Not waiting to see if he followed her advice, she started making sure that her gauntlets and boots were on tight, and after finding they were exceptional, took her characteristic stance of having none. "If you truly want to fight me...I'm ready when you three are." Of course, the one with the active jutsu charged forward first and thrusted his lightning covered hand at her, but right before it could connect she dodged to the right, letting the Chidori graze past her hair, and Sasuke kept on running. Knowing that wasn't the end of it, she turned her body in preparation for the other two, and wasn't disappointed when they were revealed to be going through hand seals.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Mito's flames consumed the powerful gusts of wind Fu created, making the normally small fireballs transform into mid-size terrors, but despite their increased size, Anza managed to evade them all and closed in on her sisters.

"Good combination...but your fire can't hurt me!" She began releasing a tirade of punches at the blonde, who found it extremely hard to block until her teammate joined the battle, forcing the blood-eyed jinchuuriki to divert her attention to both girls. Sadly for the two of them, this didn't do a lot, as the ninja-for-hire was able to track and deflect each of their attacks thanks to her dojutsu.

'How...how is she still so much better than us?! All she had with her for two years were Haruka and presumably that man, Glacius! I've been training with mom and dad, increasing my speed, my strength...and I still can't compare?!'

"**Kit! You're going to need my chakra! With those eyes and her baseline skill level, you won't be able land a hit otherwise!"** said the fox.

'I know!' Bringing out a tail of power, she managed to land a bone-jarring uppercut, her first hit on her twin, sending Anza sailing through the air.

'Damn! She got me! I should have payed just a little more attention!' Flipping, she landed on the side of a tree safely, yet her moment of rest was taken from her when Sasuke leaped at her, tanto unsheathed. She barely had enough time to jump off and avoid a brutal stab, but the Uchiha wasn't satisfied with putting a hole in the trunk and went after her at a much faster pace than she was going. Getting in close, he made a swipe at her chest…

*CLANG*

...only for him to hit the blade of her katana. 'Fucking damn it...she had enough time to bring out her sword...I bet this just got harder.' They stayed in this deadlock all the way back to the ground, neither giving an inch.

"You're a lot quicker than the last time we fought. I'm happy to see that you didn't stop training after I escaped Konoha, because I certainly didn't."

"You bet I kept training! The stronger I become, the easier it will be to drag your ass with me home!"

She couldn't help but chuckle. "I like your determination...but that's not going to happen, sorry!" Seeing each other's arms start to move, they both let up the power struggle and began dancing to a tune only they could hear, formed years ago on the cliff that separated them, sending sparks in every direction as they clashed over and over. No one was interfering with their match...and Anza wasn't going to give them the time to. After deflecting another one of his slashes, she summoned a chakra chain with the hand not being used, wrapped it around his right arm and pulled, getting the Uchiha to stagger toward her, where she delivered the strongest headbut she could muster. As his vision momentarily lost focus, he barely noticed her grabbing her chain and begin spinning, with him along for the ride, finishing with her raising Sasuke into the air and sending him into the ground, the chain going back into it's summoner afterward. "I beat you in the Chunin Exams. I beat you in every spar we've ever had, even the ones from before I became a jinchuuriki. You can't win, Sasuke. Just take the rest of your team and go. Leave me alone, let me live my life. I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm helping whoever needs it. Does that truly make me a criminal in the grand scope of things? I can name at least _one_ person who deserves to be dragged to Konoha more than I."

He shook off the impact and stood back up to face her. "Itachi, yeah, I know! But we have no goddamn idea where he is, and YOU are right here in front of us! Anza, we just want to _help you_! Let us do that!"

"...help me? Help me?! From what, myself?! Is that the spiel coming from my father?! That I'm insane?!"

"No! Listen, there are people out there hunting you-"

"Tell me something I don't know! Every country on this section of the map is looking for me! I have to wear another mask _just_ so I don't be chased wherever I go! I'm...I'm less than human in the eyes of the world! I'm just a stack of cash waiting to be claimed! I'M SICK OF BEING CONSIDERED ANYTHING LESS THAN WHAT I AM!" A red cloak started to bubble to life around her as she turned her head skyward. "YOU HEAR ME?! I'M NOT A THING, I'M A LIVING, BREATHING PERSOOOOOON!" Her yell sent a shockwave throughout the forest, and she put away the sword so she could form the tora seal. "FIRE RELEASE: GREAT FIREBALL JUTSU!" Sasuke was quick on his feet, barely evading the giant, yet extremely fast ball, but his former teammate didn't give him a single second, already on top of him and striking him with scalding blows, but to his relief his comrades joined the fight, and they started taking the advantage from Anza. One person, even with the Sharingan, simply can't dodge three sets of limbs attacking them simultaneously, especially when one was being powered by the strongest of all the biju. After returning volleys for a few seconds, the raven-haired teen decided to do something he hadn't done before...play dirty.

"Get ready!" He stopped throwing punches and went down low, sweeping the white-haired girl's legs right from under her. "One!" Sasuke moved out of the way, and before she could right herself, the missing-nin was kneed in the side by Fu, lifting her up a bit, then the amber-eyed kunoichi socked her in the face with a strong punch that sent her flying.

"Two!"

Mito let two more tails form from her shroud, and started running after her twin, making a Rasengan as she did. Once reaching striking distance, she slammed the jutsu into the same spot Fu hit, making the other girl change trajectory and ultimately hit a tree at such speeds that it fell on top of her. "Three!"

It was a few seconds before Anza stood back up from the rubble, but when she did, she cracked her neck as if all the combination attack did was make it stiff...and based on her appearance, that looked to be true. The only signs that she was even hurt at all was a mark where her adoptive sister punched her and slight tears in her black haori. "Not gonna lie...that hurt...but did you honestly expect that to work? Father hit me twice with the Rasengan, blew me up with a tag, punched me multiple times, and I was still able to keep going. I will say though...I don't think I stand a chance against all three of you. _So_…" A surge of power roared through her body, manifesting as seven spectral tails, and she flashed to Fu's side. "...let's even the numbers a bit. Sorry Fu…" Said girl tried to block the coming onslaught, but her attempts proved futile when Anza got past her defence with a single, iron-clad punch, sending her stumbling back, and in her state couldn't stop the jinchuuriki from grabbing her head, forced her to look into Anza's eyes, and subsequently go limp, falling prey to a genjutsu. Putting Fu's body gently on the ground, she looked at her next target, Sasuke, and charged forward, but Mito intercepted her...until Anza flipped over her and formed one hand seal. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" She blew her sister away, and when both feet were back on the ground she blitzed her old friend, hitting him right in the stomach and nearly making him throw up the contents of the organ. Without wasting anymore time, the powerful fourteen year old teleported to his left side and kicked him, sending him towards the feuding team's sensei. Despite the extreme force behind both blows, he managed to get back up, a testament to his endurance, but a look from the blonde twin made him stay put.

"So this is what you wanted...to fight me alone." she commented.

"If you want to go with that, sure. I would prefer 'making you suffer like I have suffered', but that works too."

"I know you've been through a lot...way more than I could even begin to imagine, and me saying those things in the hospital didn't make anything better for you...and for that I'm sorry...but you tried to kill our _parents_, the people I love! Don't you think I should have been allowed to be angry at you?!"

"And don't I have a right to happiness?! Like every other person on this fucking rock?! If you asked anyone other than my crew, Sasuke, and Fu, NO! I DON'T! Do you know what that feels like, when the entire world wants you either in chains or dead, when all you want to do is help people?! When all the ones you have EVER loved betray you?!"

"No...I don't...but if you let me in, maybe I can understand!"

Her hands started to shake. "...no. I won't...I won't let you in again. I did that once before...I won't make that same mistake. Prepare yourself, Mito...because I still have fuel to burn."

Mito's shroud maxed out, leaving her with eight tails. "So do I. If you won't end this fight, I will, and you will thank me later for taking you back to our home."

"Let's see you try." Anza started their one-on-one battle by rushing forth and delivering a strike with her forearm, but it was rendered ineffective when her twin brought up her own arm to block it. The force behind the attack made Mito sink into the ground an inch, but she didn't register it. She had to focus on the enemy in front of her. The pale one started unleashing her barrage of bone-shattering punches and kicks, but to her shock, the slit-eyed girl was able to perfectly deflect each attack while showing no sign of pain. It was at that moment that Mito chose to begin her own assault, and unlike her sister, she was able to land hit after hit. The battle was in Kurama's jinchuuriki's favor now, and Sasuke watched in awe next to Kakashi.

"She...she's winning! Mito's actually winning without our help!"

The cyclops nodded. "Yes she is. It would seem that eight tails of the Kyuubi's chakra is far greater than all seven of the Nanabi. All that training with sensei seems to have payed off...but I wonder if it will be enough."

"What do you mean?"

"This is _Anza_ we're talking about...a girl willing to harm her body, risk her very life, just to get an advantage...and she has two extra power sources that will give her that."

"You're talking about the other two biju she has."

"Yes."

Back with the fighting sisters, seeing that direct confrontation wouldn't help her at all, Anza backed up and shot multiple chakra chains at Mito, hoping to cut off her connection to the fox, but the orange-wearing twin weaved in between each one, and when no more were being fired, she used them against her, taking one into her hands and tossing her to one of the trees. The other daughter of the Hokage, having already flown into a tree earlier, landed on it, locked onto Mito, and leapt at her, destroying the bark as she did. The blonde was ready, and caught both of Anza's hands with her own. They pushed on each other, but neither was willing to let up, so the one wearing the haori prepared to create another shockwave...but so did the other. At the same time, they roared, kicking up dirt and debris, and creating a gust of wind strong enough for both Sasuke and Kakashi to have to shield their eyes, so they didn't see Mito's overpower Anza's and send her careening and tumbling backwards on the ground until she lost momentum, ending up flat on her stomach, her chakra cloak gone. 'I'm...I'm...losing? To her? No...I...won't stand for this!' Anza pushed herself onto one foot, and glared at the ground. "I guess I have no choice, then...I will not be forced to rot in a prison cell…I WON'T!" All seven tails reappeared around her as she shot back up on both legs, but two more grew out of the crimson mass. "YOU WON'T TAKE ME BACK! I WON'T LET YOU!" Inside the cloak, her body started to become aglow with liquid fire, making every inch of her become an orangish-red mass, with an aura of flame surrounding her at the same time the cloak was.

"What...what's that?!" Her answer didn't come in a sentence. Instead, it came from her twin striking her in the cheek with a rocky hand, cooled on purpose to maximize her damage, making her brain rattle in her skull as she flew backward. Before she could blink away the bright spots her eyes were giving her, Anza used the Hiraishin to catch up to her and began making extensive use of it, teleporting above and beneath her while hitting her with each one. After the eight hit, she grabbed Mito by the neck and embedded her feet into the ground, stopping their advance after a few seconds, and turned her so she could look her sister in the face.

"I told Kakashi-sensei that I wouldn't kill you...but that doesn't mean I can't make you feel pain beyond your wildest dreams." In her free hand, the characteristic blue ball that was their family jutsu spun to life, and the blonde tried to claw her way out of Anza's grasp, but the moment her hands touched the blazing orange arm, she immediately had to pull them away, the limb burning through her skin.

"**She's covered in a layer of lava, kit! You won't be able to touch her like that!"**

'I figured that out, fuzzball!' She tried to think of something that would work, but she didn't get enough time. Anza lifted her towards the sky, slammed her Rasengan into Mito's gut, and held her there as the jutsu tore through her black-and orange jumpsuit and made contact with flesh. "AAAAAHHHHH!"

"Hahahaha! Yes! Scream! Feel the tearing sensation that our father created! Oh, don't worry, I won't let it go any further than this...because I'm not done with you yet!" She released her hold on the other girl's neck, and let the Rasengan carry Mito higher and higher into the air. Once the angry fourteen year old sensed that it dissipated, she flashed to her side, kneed her in the same spot that the jutsu twisted red, and hit her in the back, sending her spinning down to earth. When Mito hit the ground, she landed on her spine and bounced back up a couple of feet, and as she finally stopped moving, she could see the rapidly approaching red form of Anza, but couldn't summon the strength to move. She was completely at her mercy now...and that was going to hurt like hell. Anza made the lava covering her right foot cool down, making that black layer of rock that was on her hand a few seconds ago, and smashed it into her fellow clansman's stomach, making cracks many feet long as a result of the impact and nearly forcing Mito out of consciousness as she screamed in pain. "There…that...should put an end to this little fight."

'She's...right...can't...move...we were so...close...I'm sorry...mom...dad...I...couldn't do it...couldn't...bring her back...' Something warm touched her face, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with Anza's face only a few inches from her own, her Sharingan shiny from what looked like tears.

"It wasn't suppose to be this way...I was never suppose to fight you. We were suppose to be inseparable..._family_...but we aren't. Me and you...we were suppose to stand together even if the entire world was against us...but we won't. I know it's mainly my fault for our current situation, really, I do...but you're at fault as well. I gave you my unyielding love...and you stabbed me in the heart with that jagged dagger you call a tongue. Do you know what that did to me? You were the one I held above all others...to have you say those things to me...it hurt. It hurt so bad, even though it was mainly true...I tried to move past it. As I travelled around with Glacius and Haruka, I tried to look for someone that could make me happy...but I always shied away, because I knew that if I let someone hold that much of my heart again, all they will do is break me apart from the inside like you did. I wanted to start my own family with someone one day, have kids with someone I loved...but now I can't, because I'm scared of letting people in...and it's all your fault...remember this, for this will hopefully be my last message to you...the one who broke my heart into a million pieces." The whiskered girl got up from her position and limped over to her brother-figures. "Kakashi-sensei...Sasuke...can you do me one last favor? Don't spread my identity as Chimera out of Konoha. I want to continue helping people, and I can't do that if half of the world knows that I'm a mercenary...please...let me have this last piece of freedom. I'm not doing anything wrong…I only take jobs I consider morally good, like clearing bandits, I swear…"

The two other Sharingan users looked at eachother, and without speaking came to the same conclusion. "Alright. I'll relay that to your father, as a thank you for staying to your word of letting Mito live." said the jonin.

"Thank you." She was about to teleport to the cave where she sent the rest of her team, but the Uchiha grabbed her by the arm.

"I still have one last thing to tell you before you go, about those people I mentioned earlier...they go by Akatsuki. They are a criminal organization made completely of S-Rank missing-nin that work in teams of two, and they might be hunting jinchuuriki. Based on what Minato says, they wear black cloaks with red clouds on them. If you see anything that matches that, please, just run."

"...I'll do my best. Thank you for telling me. This...is goodbye." She blinked out of his hand in that black flash of hers, leaving the current Team Kakashi alone in the woods.

Kakashi sighed. "Let's help Mito up and break Fu out of that genjutsu she's under. It's...going to be a long walk back to Konoha."

* * *

**A.N: Sorry for the wait on this one, the fights kept changing in my head as I thought about them, but I hope it was enjoyable in the end.**


	49. Chapter 49

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 49**

Inside the cool cave that serves as Anza's group's base of ops, the four who were teleported there waited with bated breath for their leader to return. "Do you think she's alright?" asked an unmasked Noboru, sitting right next to his best friend.

"I don't know, it's been awhile...but I think she is. We saw her thrash around that guy down there in that underground place like he was a worthless piece of trash, and could take down all three of us, her students, without seemingly paying much attention. Not to mention that when she sent us away, she seemed to be confident that she would win." responded Akira.

Their resident mini-Uchiha huffed. "Mom's fine! Back when we were in Konoha, she would sometimes let me watch her training sessions with the rest of her team and Fu. Each time, she would win easily. Even if they trained hard to catch up to her, mom has been doing her own extreme training with Haku and Fluffy, she couldn't have lost to them!"

The former prodige of Zabuza's nodded. "Even though I wouldn't word it like _that_, I agree with her. Anza wouldn't have sent me away if she didn't believe she could win. At least...I hope I'm correct."

The axe-wielder saw the logic in that. "Yeah...you're probably right. I mean, how bad could it have been?" Suddenly, a spot in front of him became darker than usual, and the whiskered Namikaze they were just speaking about stood amongst them again.

"Hey guys...hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long…" Anza fell to her knees, and face planted into the rock-hard ground.

"Mom/Anza/Sensei!" They surrounded her, and helped her up. "Are you okay?" asked Haku.

"I...hate that joke…don't use it again…"

"What happened?" This time it was Haruka.

"Mito's attacks hurt like hell...I also have a headache...and I think my right foot might have broken somewhere when I landed on it at such speeds...nothing I can't heal in a few days...but I won...thought I'd have to show some of the better things I've learned, but luckily I remembered I had Lava Release Chakra Mode."

"Would you like us to let you lay down?"

"No...I can sense Daku coming closer." As if on cue, the floor started to shake, and those ghastly yellow eyes made their way to them through the shadows.

"Master...you've overexerted yourself again, haven't you?"

"Just a little...can you take me to the pond? The water would help me relax, and I can get rid of this headache…there's also something I wish to talk to you about."

"As you wish." A dark green tail stretched out of the wall of black that seemed to always hide the summon's body and wrapped itself around Anza's body, pulling her into obscurity.

"There's a pond down here? Why haven't you told us about that?" asked Akira.

"Don't let the name fool you, it is no pond. It's an underground lake that spans maybe fifty meters, and is just as deep, if not more...and the reason that no has told you is because there's something in that water. It makes you feel..._strange_, yet Anza either doesn't notice it or she likes it. Not that it's really any of my business. It doesn't seem to do anything to her, so I don't worry about it." filled in androgynous male.

"Oh...well...I'm going to lay down. After the day we had...I just want to sleep it off."

"Sleeping won't help you move past the feeling of knowing you took someone's life willingly, Akira...but go ahead. I know you must be tired."

"I'll be napping, too. Wake us up when it's either time for dinner or when sensei comes back." said the flame-colored student, with Haruka and Haku nodding in understanding, and he and his fellow Miramashian went to separate areas to move past their first kill.

With the white-haired girl and the beastly summon, they made it to the not-so small body of water after a few minutes, and after being helped down by Daku's very long tail, she stripped herself of her armor and clothes and stepped into the dark depths, letting her body float at the top. "Daku...I need to continue the training."

The large animal crashed into the water with her, sending waves in all directions. "I thought you said you weren't really getting anywhere with it?"

"I know...but my little skirmish with my team showed me that...that I'm not as strong as I need to be. I might be able to fight off most of my would-be detainers, but if someone like Kakashi-sensei were to fight me...I'd be hard pressed to win, even if I gave it my all. And now there's a group of S-Ranks looking for people like me for some reason...I don't know if you know this Daku, but S-Rank is the best of the best. My father is one, but really...he deserves a rank above S, with all he knows and the fact he's been strengthened by Kurama since becoming Hokage. Loathe I am to admit it, but even with my eyes I can't fight S-Ranks, not for long, anyway, so I have to gain every advantage I can get so I can not be taken by _anyone_. Not by my wench of a sister, not by Sasuke, not by anyone."

"...as you command. When you are healed up, we will begin again."

She sighed in relief. "Thanks, Daku. I'm glad I can count on you."

"You can _always_ count on me, master. I am but an extension of your will, I will do anything you ask of me."

"I know." She closed her eyes, and let her fatigue wash off of her, Daku remaining nearby to make sure his summoner didn't go under.

**-_later, Konoha_-**

"What...happened on that patrol?" asked the blonde Hokage once seeing the forlorn look of his student's team, and the state of his daughters favorite jacket.

"We...met Anza, sensei." said Kakashi.

For a minute, he thought he was hearing things, but the expression on Kakashi's face never changed. "Anza's...okay?"

"As okay as she can be."

He sighed. "That's a relief, knowing that Akatsuki hasn't gotten their hands on her...but what was she doing in the Land of Sound? Do you know?"

"A job. We found her, Haruka, and the rest of her little mercenary band in a small village delivering 'bad news', as Haruka called it, but we didn't find out what exactly that meant before she fought us. As you can see...she won."

His azure orbs widened. "She beat all four of you? Even you, Kakashi?"

"Oh no, _I_ didn't fight her. I was forbidden to interfere by her, otherwise she would give no hesitation in killing Mito whenever she had the chance, but she _did_ beat her teammates, even her twin."

Hearing that, he looked at Mito. "It looks like you took the brunt of her attacks, if that hole in your tracksuit is anything to go by. What exactly happened?"

"She...overpowered us one at a time. At first, we were winning with our teamwork, but then she unleashed all of Chomei's power. In a few seconds we lost the numbers advantage, as she put Fu under a genjutsu and kicked Sasuke out of the fight, so I brought out all eight tails, and she couldn't compare. I was winning, and right when I thought I beat her, she stood back up, yelled at me, and coated herself in a new cloak...one made of pure lava. There was...nothing I could do once she grabbed ahold of me, the heat would have burnt straight through my hands. And this…" She pointed at her stomach. "...is the result of her holding a Rasengan to me. I never felt such a pain before...but it was nothing compared to what she said to me." Her eyes started to sting, and she could feel water wanting to be released, but she blinked them away. "She doesn't consider me as a relative anymore, just another person that betrayed her. Every word she spoke to me dripped with hate, the simple act of looking at me seemed to disgust her...she even laughed at me while her jutsu was tearing apart the skin on my stomach. I knew she was angry at me, but for it to be so bad…" The teenage girl couldn't hold it back anymore. The dam broke, and the tears spilled out. Her friends made a move to comfort her, but her father was faster, using a short range teleport to get out of his chair, and brought Mito into his arms.

"Shh...shh...don't cry. There's still hope that we can go back to being a full family again."

"How? Anza wants nothing to do with us...she'd rather kill us than embrace us, dad. She doesn't have love for us in her heart anymore, just pure anger...how can we repair what's been broken?"

"I asked the same thing to your mother after fighting her...and I still don't have a definitive answer...but we can't just give up. I know I won't. Please tell me you won't, either; that you still want to have her as part of this family…"

"...I do, more than anything. Even after telling me that I'm a sad human being, I just want her to be by our sides again…"

He patted her on the head. "Good. As long as you don't lose hope, we still have a chance at righting what has been wronged. I bet all four of you are tired after the journey there and back, along with the stressful meeting with Anza, so take the rest of today and even tomorrow off. Go home, rest." The teens nodded and left, but the jonin stayed behind. He had a message to deliver, after all.

**-_that night_-**

After closing her eyes and being whisked away from the waking world, the young jinchuuriki found herself inside the familiar sewer-like mindscape that housed Kurama...but unlike all the times Mito brought herself here, she was nowhere near the giant fox. "What…? Fuzzball? Where are you?" Her voice echoed off of the walls, and no grumble of annoyance answered back. "Okay...this is strange...maybe this is just one of those dreams that I can control? Let's try…" She shut her eyes, and thought of her house, picturing the hard wood floors, the living room with their large TV and even larger couch, and when she opened them again...found nothing had changed. "Okay, so it's not...what the hell is going on? It's like when I first met Kurama...only this time I don't feel any warmth from either direction. Might as well explore, I guess…" She began dragging her feet through the water, and for an uncountable amount of time found nothing, but eventually, the narrow path opened up into a sizable square-shaped room, and as she looked into it, saw a strange sight.

There was a spiky, brown haired man dressed in a white kimono with magatama around its collar facing away from her, a sword on his back, and a strange, ringed staff in his lap.

At the sound of her stepping into the area, the man's head jolted up, and he turned it slightly to face her. "That worked? Hm...so there must be a correlation between mine and his chakra..." His voice surprised her, as it was the very same one she heard two years prior in another dream, so out of reflex, she took a combative stance.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my head? Where's fuzzball?"

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down. Let me at least stand up before asking me questions." He did so, and bowed in greeting. "I think you remember me on some level?"

"Yeah...you are the voice I heard a few years ago."

"Correct. At the time, I thought it was a fluke I could speak to you, but now that I know I can summon you inside of your mind...I don't think so."

"...no offence, but can you answer at least one of my questions?"

"Ah, right, you don't really care for people who just go on and on with no point being made. My apologizes. I'll start with...my name. I am Asura Otsutsuki. You know of my father, Hagoromo."

"...who?"

Asura smacked his forehead. "I forgot, everyone never really called him by his real name, so of course it was lost to history...he's the Sage of the Six Paths. I am _not_ on my a-game today…"

Her eyes widened. "_You_ are the son of the man who brought peace to the world?"

"One of them, as I have a brother, but basically."

"But...you should be dead, then…"

"I am...but at the same time, I'm not. My body is long and gone, but my spirit is still around. Does that make any sense to you?"

"No, not really."

"Okay, let me try to explain it...when you have a sufficiently strong enough chakra and willpower in life, you can be reincarnated into your descendants, with their chakra being enhanced beyond what it possibly could have been without yours mixing into theirs."

"So...I am your reincarnation?"

"Yep."

"And that's how you can talk to me like fuzzball can?"

He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure if that's all to it. You see, every time I'm reincarnated, I retain awareness and can see some of the things my reincarnation does, but most of the time I can't actually converse with my current reincarnation, like I am right now. I think it has to do with the little bits of my brother's chakra and DNA inside of you, because I have talked to one other before you, and they were of the same breed as us."

"Same...breed? What do you mean?"

"You...don't know about the constant fighting my descendents and my brothers? Between the Senju and the Uchiha?"

"A little...but what does that have to do with what you said?"

"Looks like I'm going to give a little history lesson...okay, I'll need to start with the very beginning. At least a millennia ago, my father and my uncle fought and defeated the Juubi, a being so powerful that a simple roar was said to shake the world to it's core, and would then spread chakra to the world, teaching ninshu to the people in the hopes that everyone would understand each other. Later, when father settled down with mother and had me and Indra, he would begin training us so that one day, we could take over the spread of ninshu and peace after he passed. It quickly became apparent that Indra was probably going to be his successor, as he accomplished anything and everything he set his mind too, unlike me, who couldn't keep up with him on a good day…but this caused him to rely only on himself, as no one could be compared to him besides father. His personality also took a turn for the worse, believing that strong-arming others to comply to your will was the only way to achieve peace, an outlook father despised. When I unlocked my own power and could go toe-to-toe with Indra, he asked me how I would go about bringing peace, and I said through love and understanding...the very basis of his teachings. He applauded my way, and when the day finally came, chose me as his successor. Indra was furious, and stormed out before either I or father could stop him. Once father passed on, Indra came to me...and said that I didn't deserve to be the one to pass on father's teachings, so he would prove father wrong by killing me. No matter what I tried to do, we fought each other for the rest of our lives, even after having our own families, and ultimately our children took up our fight, and their children did the same."

"Wow...and after so long, they forgot why they were fighting, but no one questioned it…"

"Exactly. My descendents would come to be known as the Senju and the Uzumaki, and Indra's the Uchiha...and in more recent years, the Namikaze. Now, there were _some_ who could see the stupidity and didn't fight each other, and even had children with one another. It was one of these couples that had twins...who would become both mine and Indra's reincarnations. Luckily, as they were raised away from the constant wars between their clans, they never became like me and my brother, even after we found out we could speak to them. Indra found that out the hard way…his new self refused to kill her brother, and through her, he realized that his way to achieve peace wasn't going to work, as the people would eventually rebel against someone who ruled over them with an iron fist, starting wars all over again, and saw that my way truly was better for the world. After hundreds of years...we became brothers again."

"And that's why you felt compelled to contact me two years ago...me and Anza were going down the same path you and Indra went down."

"Yes. I didn't want to see another family be torn apart like that...but it seems I was too late. I saw your entire fight with her, you know...and I couldn't help but see so many similarities to Indra in her. The way her eyes looked...so betrayed, so full of anger...even the way she fought kind of reminded me of him, with her not putting any unnecessary movements into her attacks."

"Well...that's to be expected, right? She's your brothers reincarnation."

The youngest son of the legendary sage sighed. "And there lies another problem I wish to speak to you about...from what I can tell, she's _not_."

"What?! But...but everything points to her being his latest one!"

"Based on the story of the other twins, you would think so, but that's simply not the case. Indra would have contacted me if he was in her, and he hasn't, so that means she hasn't inherited his chakra...but I think I know who has...anyway, that's a discussion for another time. Back to why I told you that tale, those twins were born of Senju and Uchiha parents, making them...more like me, Indra, and our father. Now...you and Anza were born of Namikaze and Uzumaki parents, also making you like us...but Anza...as she doesn't have Indra's chakra to 'limit', and I use that word with hesitance, her growth, I fear that her DNA and chakra may have...mutated as she grew older, and the small bits of our power joined together. This...worries me. If I'm correct...you NEED to get her back, or at the very least make sure she doesn't fall under the influence of the being that Indra told me about, because I don't think she has hit her peak yet."

Mito looked down at the water. "I'll do my best...but I'm not so sure we can get her to see that we don't want her dead."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. If me and Indra could reconcile, I know for a fact that you two can, you only need to figure out how. Well...I think I got what I wanted to tell you out of the way. I'll let you wake up now, and if you need me, I'll be with Kurama. He's...probably going to think he's going insane once he sees me." The teen was expelled from her mind with that, and into the harsh light of the real world.

**-_Daku's Cave_-**

When Anza went back to her crew with her dark green summon, they found them eating breakfast, which consisted of chicken and rice. Daku's tail wrapped around her torso, and elongated so that he could set his summoner down near the warm fire, between Haruka and Haku. "So...how did all of you sleep?"

"Terribly…" answered Noboru, with Akira nodding in agreement.

"Because of that guy you killed?" They both nodded. "I'll talk to you both about it in a bit, but there is something I need to tell you all."

"What is it?" asked Haku.

"I'm...restarting my own training, so that means we won't see the light of day very much for...awhile. Again."

"Awww...but I like exploring all the different countries…" whined the Uchiha, getting the missing-nin to ruffle her hair.

"I know you do, and that won't stop completely, we just won't be up on the surface for elongated periods like we are now. I'm sorry, but this will be for the best."

"I understand…"

"Okay...but what will this do to _our _training?" asked Akira.

"Nothing. I'll still train you until two of you can't go on for the rest of the day, and once that happens, I'll go deeper into the cave to commence mine. Haku will watch over you when I do...right, Haku?"

"Of course."

"Great. Now...finish up your meals. We have a lot to get through today, and I'd like to cover them as soon as possible."

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

**Deltahalo: ...it wouldn't even be a fight. All Kisame would have to do is bitch slap her with Samehada and she'd be done. **


	50. Chapter 50

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 50**

"Come on, you three! I'm only using a sword that weighs about as much as two of you combined, you can _try _to be a little faster than that!" playfully taunted the snowy-haired Namikaze as she blocked all three of her students at once with Kubikiribocho.

"We'll get past your defence at some point!" grunted the apprentice in red.

"I'm sure you will...but what _I_ want to know is...will that be today?!" She pushed them off of her as if they were ants, and made a slow slash at Akira, who managed to block it with his axe's blade. Seeing the small opportunity, the other two attacked with their choice of weapons, but Anza was easily able to split her attention to all of them despite being outnumbered. "Good, good...you guys have gotten better as a team! Is it enough to hit me, though?"

"We'll find out!" shouted her adopted daughter, and she slashed a few more times, all being failures, before backing off with her fellow trainees. "Okay...maybe not…"

"Am I the only one who finds this bullshit?! Every time we spar with her, no matter how hard we try, we can't manage to land a hit!" exclaimed the one wearing a hoodie.

"Well...that would be because she's had a lot of experience with multiple enemies...mom told me that she had to help fight off an army when she was first traveling around the world, and we just keep fighting large groups of enemies, so…"

"But what do we do? We need to show that all the time she spent training us wasn't a waste!"

Anza rolled her eyes while a smirk tried to make it's way on her lips. "Taking time out of my day and my own improvements to teach you guys things will never be considered a waste to me, don't forget that...but I would like to see some scratches on my coat at _some _point in time." This seemed to stoke the fires in them, as they charged right back into battle. The 'Fierce Black Gale', like always, was the fastest, and instead of slashing or stabbing with her kunai, she breathed a small fire jutsu at the Uzumaki's face. Anza dodged to the right, barely getting her long hair out of the way before it got burnt, and had to twist her massive blade so that Noboru's sword glanced off of it. Akira tried to get her legs, but she simply jumped over the swipe and planted her armored boot into the side of his face, sending him reeling. When both feet came back down to the dark cave floor, she began deflecting Haruka's strikes while Noboru got back into position. As he readied his tachi for a stab, his master took one hand off of Kubikiribocho's handle and elbowed him right under his sternum, stopping his movement and knocking the breath out of him. "Can still see your every move, even if you're out of sight."

"Right…" he wheezed, and took a step back from the action while his best friend recovered from the hit he sustained earlier and dove straight back into the battle. 'This isn't working whatsoever...she knows how we all fight, and she can tell what we're going to do before _we_ even do...simple attacks with our weapons just won't do! Hehe...I guess it was a good thing I practiced this quite a bit! Not even Kira knows I can do this now!' He sheathed his blade, and he started forming hand seals as fast and perfect a novice like him could make them. 'Dragon...tiger...hare...' "Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" A stream of water gushed forth from his mouth and approached the three-man fight.

Anza could feel it approaching, of course, and she was rather surprised. 'Hm...he can perform that jutsu now? Must have practiced it in private, just waiting for a moment like this...good.' As she retook the offensive from the other two, she stuck out a hand to guard against the jutsu, and when it touched her gauntlet, it didn't do so much as move her fingers. "Good attempt, but you need better control in order to make effective use of the Wild Water Wave, otherwise it's just a slightly more powerful version of spitting."

"...well, back to square one." He brought his weapon back out and charged. Deciding to let up just a little bit, Anza kept only her dominant hand on her giant butcher knife while the other was deflecting Nobi's strikes. Without all of her strength keeping the sword up, the combined onslaught of the Uchiha's quick slashes and the sheer weight behind Gekiro's chops started to push her back. Eventually, the axe-wielder lifted up the heavy piece of metal and brought it down right on the tip of his sensei's weapon, and the sudden force made it drop to the ground.

"Now, while I have it pinned!" he shouted to the small girl, who wasted no time in advancing. In order to keep her guard up, Anza had no choice but to let go of Kubikiribocho's handle and went to pure hand to hand, but this wasn't enough. Haruka, using her right kunai, made her 'mother' block with the palm of her hand, giving her an opening, which she took. She stretched her other arm as much as she could and tried to land a cut on the Sharingan wielder's cheek, but she moved her head just enough so that the kunai only cut a piece of her hair off.

'Heh...so today WAS the day they managed to do it...' Suddenly, she teleported behind Akira, making everyone stop whatever they were going to do next and turn to face her. "That's enough sparring for the day. You all did well. Obviously, as the three of you managed to get a bit of my hair." For emphasis, she grabbed the now a few inches shorter lock and showed it to her students. "I'm going to be lopsided for awhile. Thanks, Haruka."

Said girl grinned. "You're welcome!"

The Hokage's wayward daughter chuckled. "You really are turning into someone like me…" She changed her attention to Akira. "Good move, depraving me of my weapon like you did and giving Haruka a way to get me. If you hadn't _finally_ managed to land that over-head strike, I think I would have won." The praise seemed to embarrass him, as he rubbed the back of his head while a small smile formed on his face, and she turned to the last of the bunch. "And _you_...secretly working on being able to use a jutsu behind my back, behind _everyone's_ back...awesome, if a bit stupid. Now Akira has a _true_ rival, as Haruka...can't be considered one to the both of you. You better learn the right timing for using something like the Wild Water Wave, though, as if it had more power than what you gave it, I easily could have dodged it and let your teammates take it, leaving you wide open and even without backup. Got that?"

He nodded frivolously. "Yes sensei! Sorry sensei!"

She smiled. "Great. Seeing how you got your first scratch on me today, I'll do something special: tomorrow, when everyone's awake, we'll go visit one of the villages we've been to and have a _real_ meal. How about that?"

The two old friends looked at eachother. "It's been, like, two weeks since we last saw the sun...yes!" said the sword user, and they high-fived, in love with that idea...but Haruka didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm.

"Is something wrong, Haruka?" asked Anza.

"Not really...but…"

"...but what?"

She gulped. 'Maybe...maybe she'll say yes? Please...please say yes…' "I've...been wanting to visit Konoha for awhile…"

Her guardian tensed up, and narrowed her eyes. "...what brought this about?"

Seeing the look on Anza's face made Haruka lose a little bit of confidence, and she began rubbing her hands in nervousness. "W-well...seeing Sasuke again a few months ago made me remember how much I've been missing it. It's been more than two years since I've seen my friends and cousins back in the orphanage, and I want to see them again..."

Hearing that, the Uzumaki's face softened, and she ran a hand through her hair. "I...can understand that…" She began pacing back and forth, wracking her brain for an answer she could give to the little girl, before finally pinching her nose and sighing. "Give me a day to think about it, alright? I...didn't really expect you to ask to go back for a bit so soon."

'At least it wasn't a no...' "Okay."

"Thank you. I'm going to go do my own training, so I'll see all of you tomorrow." The mercenary vanished into the darkness without another word.

"I don't know why, but I was expecting her to blow up…" murmured Noboru.

Akira nodded. "Me too...that's kinda why I've never asked about Konoha...hey, Haruka, what's Konoha like?"

"I...don't know how to describe it besides wonderful. The weather there is almost always pleasant, unless it's the middle of summer. That's when it gets _really_ hot. In the winter, just the right amount of snow falls to leave a nice crunch wherever you go, but not enough to hinder people. Most of the people you'll come across are nice, but I'm sure there are some shady characters somewhere, and nearly every place you stop in to eat has good food. I'm sure that if we get the chance, you two would love it there..." She sighed. "...but that's up to mom...and I don't think she'll let us."

The man in blue put a hand on her head. "Hey, you never know. You're her little girl, she'll more than likely grant your wish. She does that with pretty much everything _else_ you ask of her."

The Uchiha nodded at that observation. "Yeah...well, there's nothing else we can do besides wait until the morning. Let's go find something to do. Maybe Haku would like to tell some stories?"

**-_the next morning_-**

When Haruka started to wake up in her extra large sleeping bag, she didn't feel the warmth that usually had it's arms around her. 'Mom's...not...back yet?' She flipped over, and moved her hand over the spot that Anza would have slept, finding it cold. 'Did...did she not sleep last night? I...I guess I should get up...' Snaking her way out of her place of rest, she got up to re-ignite the fire so she could start making breakfast, but spotted the sole other human awake right in front of the ashen wood, bags under her eyes.

"Hey, Haruka...sleep well?"

"Did you?"

"No...I stayed up all night thinking about your request."

The eight year old put her head down in shame. "Sorry...I shouldn't have said anything…"

"No no...it's...it's…_(yawn_) alright…because I have an answer for you...but let's wait until some of the gang wake up...okay?" The tiny killer nodded, and took a seat next to Anza, relighting the fire as she did. They didn't wait for very long, as the other two apprentices and Haku woke up a few minutes after the immediate area starting becoming warm and also set themselves around the flames.

"You look terrible, sensei." commented Akira.

"I know...shut up. After I'm done talking, I'm hitting the sack myself. Now, as you're all awake...I made a decision on whether or not I'd let Haruka go visit Konoha...and it's a yes."

The raven-haired girl looked at her with wide eyes. "Really?!"

"Yes." Almost immediately afterwards, her 'daughter' leapt from her spot and tackled her to the ground.

"Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"

Despite running on fumes at the moment, Anza wasted energy by laughing. "You're welcome. Two years is...a long time without seeing the people that helped you get past a horrific event such as the massacre." Moving Haruka off of her, she sat back up straight. "That's not the only thing, though. I will NOT let her go back to our hometown alone...so Noboru, Akira, you will be joining her."

Both young men stared at her, jaws agape. "What?" finally said the younger of the two.

"That's right. I figured you two would like to see it, so I'm giving you the opportunity to do so."

"B-but wouldn't Haku be a better choice to send with Haruka?"

"Oh, definitely, but this isn't a mission. This is going to be your 'resting period', so to speak, but I'd like you to continue training while visiting."

They both bowed their heads. "We will do that, don't worry."

"Good...but there are two more things I want to say before I take you to a marker I left near the gate when I went out searching for the Kiba blades. One: as I'm only going to give you just enough money to buy food for a month, you are…_(sigh)_ you are going to have to stay with my parents."

"...wait, what? Why would you tell us to stay with your mom and dad?"

"Because I'm sure they will take you in with open arms…and...I want you to draw your own conclusions on them. I don't want you to hate them just because I do, because I hate them for specific reasons that _only_ hurt me. If you turn out to not like them, fine. If you become friends with whoever is living in that house, fine too. I don't really care. Anyway, two: you don't have to use your other names and masks, as they already know about you, and I asked Kakashi-sensei to not tell the other hidden villages about us, so if Konoha knows your true identities, it shouldn't really be that big of a deal. Got all of that?"

"Yes!" all three of them answered.

"Alright then…" Anza held out a hand, and a large stack of ryo poofed into it. "This...should be about...I don't know...eighty thousand ryo? Maybe more? I'm not going to count it, not worth my time...Akira, I'm going to leave you in charge of it, as you are the oldest."

He accepted the money. "Thank you...I won't squander it."

"You better not, 'cause otherwise you're out of cash. Unless, you know, you somehow trick my father into giving you a couple thousand every few days. I advise robbing a drug store if you're going to do that."

'I'm...not sure if she's kidding or not...' "I'll...keep that in mind."

"Then...let's get going." The master and her students stood up, and huddled together. As soon as she was sure that all of them were hanging onto her, she used the legendary transportation jutsu, and in a flash, they were in a sea of trees. "We're here. Go _that_ way…" Anza pointed directly in front of her. "...and you'll eventually find a road. Take a right, and sooner or later you'll see a giant mountain with four faces, one being my father's, on it. That's when you'll know you found Konohagakure. Now, I'm going to go before Kurama and the sensors realize that I'm rather close to the village." She vanished again, leaving the trio alone in the forest.

"Oh man...I can't wait any longer! Come on, guys!" Haruka suddenly dashed off to where the missing-nin pointed.

"H-hey! Wait for us!" shouted Noboru, and they chased after her as quickly as they could. In a few minutes of following her, they soon spotted the Hokage Monument, and the gates that would allow them access into the huge village.

The two eternal gate guards, Kotetsu and Izumo, could see the rapidly approaching bodies and plumes of dust trailing behind them, and they knew that if they didn't jump in the way, these three new people would successfully get inside Konoha. So they did, and when the figures got closer, Izumo put some chakra into his lungs and yelled. "Halt!" The unknowns started slowing down, and they stopped just a few feet away from them. "State your business."

"Returning and visiting, Mr. Gate Guard." said Haruka.

"Returning? I know for a fact you're not a kunoichi from here, you look way too young."

"And you'd be right. I'm only eight. And I'm Haruka Uchiha! Does _that_ jog your memory?"

His eyes widened. "Haruka? Then...you're going to have to go see the Hokage, in the Academy. Would you like one of us to take you there?"

"Nah, I can find it. Let's go, slow pokes!" She ran past the guards, and once getting to the other side of the gates, started jumping on top of the buildings, her older companions barely able to keep up with the energetic girl. When they finally found the right building, they marched past the receptionist, who valiantly tried to stop them, and the young Uchiha kicked the doors to the office open, revealing the Yellow Flash slogging through paperwork. "Hey, grandpa!"

Minato jerked his head up at the loud call, and spotted the mercs. "...Haruka?"

"Yep! And this is Akira and Noboru, my fellow apprentices!"

Both men waved. "Hello."

"Wha...what are you doing here? I thought you three were with Anza? Wait...is she here?!"

The girl shook her head. "No, and I don't think she'll ever enter the village again. Mom simply dropped us off, because I wanted to see Konoha again for a little bit. Anyway...mom said that you can help us once we got here…"

The blonde rose an eyebrow. "...with what?"

**-_meanwhile_-**

In a park, the remaining members of the Rookie Nine were gathered around, spending time with each other by trading stories of their missions. "...and while we were ultimately successful in destroying the crime ring, the mime will probably never walk again." finished Kiba.

"...why did the mime even bother? He should have known he was going to be useless in that situation." said Sasuke.

"That's what I told him, but he either was deaf, or didn't care. Either way, we couldn't stop from following us, and when the fighting broke out...well...you know the rest."

"Sorry that things went so far south, though. At least you solved the problem."

"It's fine, we got over it a week ago. Things like that always have a chance at happening, nothing we can do about it. Does anyone else have any crazy stories, or have we finally run out?"

Sasuke put a hand on his chin. "I can't think of any. Kakashi-sensei, Fu, Mito, and I haven't really left the village that much after crossing paths with Anza, and when we have nothing out of the ordinary happens. What about you, Ino?"

The Yamanaka shook her head. "Me neither. It's been a rather boring month since the last time we gathered."

"I guess so…" Suddenly, a *poof* came from behind him, and when he turned to see the cause, he saw an Anbu wearing a boar mask.

"Mito, Sasuke, Lord Hokage has requested your presence."

"Is there something going on?" asked Kurama's jinchuuriki.

"Nothing dangerous. Just go to his office, you'll see why he's asked for you."

The teammates looked at one another, and got up from their sitting positions. "Sorry, but we have to go, guys. Same time next month?" Everyone nodded, and she and the Uchiha hurried to the Academy, making it to village's seat of power in record time...and they were surprised to see Anza's three students sitting right across from Minato. "...huh? What are _you_ three doing here?"

"Visiting!" chirped Haruka, who went up to them and hugged them. "Isn't that awesome?"

Sasuke chuckled. "Yeah. The rest of the Uchiha have been wondering about you, they would be beyond happy to see you again."

"I'll visit them later, after we get settled. Which reminds me...how many beds are available at your house?"

"...what?"

"_That_ would be why I called you two here. They are going to be living with us for the extent of their trip. I figure you wouldn't mind taking them back to the house?" said the Fourth Hokage.

"We only have one spare bed, though."

"We also have a couch, and an air mattress that sensei likes to use when he stays over. They'll work out who gets what when you get there."

"Right...I forgot about the air mattress...alright. We can handle them from here."

"Thank you. See all of you after work." The shinobi left the room with that, and Minato went back to work. It had to get done at _some_ point.


	51. Chapter 51

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 51**

"...nice place. Better than what I had in Miramashi, anyway." commented Noboru upon seeing the inside of his sensei's old house.

"Yeah...have to agree with you there. Dad gets quite a bit of money from being a blacksmith, but this? He couldn't afford something like this without selling the shop!" joined in Akira.

Mito chuckled a bit from his reaction. "Four bedrooms, three baths, a basement, a study, a backyard, and some other things. When your father was one of the deciding factors in the war, is one of the best shinobi Konoha has, and is the _Hokage_, I guess you get quite a bit of money to buy and maintain a place like this."

"And where's the kitchen? I haven't had anything to drink since I woke up, which was only a little bit ago, and I'm kinda thirsty." asked the small Uchiha.

"Follow me." The group of five walked away from the entrance and took the first doorway to the left, which brought them to the living room. "As you can see, the dining room is at the far end. Go there, and you'll find the kitchen."

"'Kay! I'll be right back!" She walked away with that little bit of information, and the rest of them took a seat on the scattered furniture.

"This is a comfy chair...wish we had something like _this_ in the cave…" murmured the hoodie-wearing man, getting Sasuke to raise an eyebrow.

"Cave?"

"Yeah. There's this cave we go to, the one that houses Anza-sensei's summon. For the past few months we've been...more or less holed up there."

"...why?"

"To...to train _us_, of course! After running into you after we completed that job, she decided that keeping us underground would be the safest thing to do, as we could meet you again."

"Which, evidently, isn't the best thing. I have _never_ seen her so angry as when she spoke to Mito, and I've seen her butcher bandits as if they were the worst things on earth while shouting curses at them." finished the other one.

Said blonde sighed. "It's worse being on the receiving end of it."

"What did you _do_? She never tells us anything about you, or your parents, for that matter, and from what you said at that reunion, that alone shouldn't have made her so hostile to you."

"It...would be easier to show you. Sasuke, do you have our team picture?"

"Always. It never leaves my wallet." Knowing what Mito was going to do, he fished it out and threw the picture to Noboru, who managed to catch it.

"You see the girl on the left? The one with black hair and bandages?"

The fifteen year-old nodded. "She wears something similar to what Haruka wears...except that this one has no sleeves at all, and wears a gi like mine instead of a coat."

"Yeah. She...was a good teammate and friend. We...even began dating before the finals of the Chunin Exams."

"...huh. So both you and Anza share more than your appearances…wait...Haku mentioned a girl in black once, and she was one of the two who killed his previous leader, the other being...Kakashi…" At the realization, he couldn't stop himself from going bug-eyed. "ARE YOU SAYING THIS IS SENSEI?!"

"Yes."

"And you dated her?!"

"Yes. At the time...I misinterpreted everything she did, from the way she smiled at me to the over-protectiveness she showed whenever I was hurt. As I didn't know who she was, I eventually thought she had feelings for me, and when I confronted her about it, she said that she did, so we decided to see where it went. We...were rather happy. After the exams and her trying to kill mom and dad, though...it all changed in a second."

"You dumped her after that, and that's why she's angry at you." said Akira.

"More like kicked her while she was down. I...said some things I wish I could take back, but considering that she won't even let me speak to her...there's nothing I can do. That's why we have no choice but to fight. If we want her to come back to Konoha, we need beat her first."

"Why not let her stay out there? She's very happy not being here. Isn't that what her family would want, for her to be happy?"

"Are you sure she's happy, Akira? Because I don't think so. You weren't there when the fighting broke out, you didn't see what I saw in her eyes...you didn't feel what I can feel." Akira had no comeback for that, so he sank back into his chair. A few minutes later, the missing guest came back from the kitchen, steaming cup of liquid in her hand, and sat between her clansman and Mito.

"Wait...you made _coffee_?" asked Sasuke.

"Of course! I didn't get any before we left, so when I saw the coffee machine, I went for it! I only made enough for this one cup, though, so if you want some, go make your own."

"I'm good. I don't need those kind of things to wake myself, I just take a shower...but recently, I wait until much later to do that. Specifically, after everyone else...ever since that day…" He shuddered.

"What happened?"

"I'd...rather not relive it. I can still feel the burns…"

"Okay." She took a sip of her drink, and scanned the room. "Hey...where's Fu? I would have thought she would be here to see us."

"Riiight here." said a voice, getting all of them to turn to where they entered from, seeing the former jinchuuriki with a sever case of bed-head. "Heeey...didn't think I'd see you three again so soon."

"Mom let us come over. Not sure for how long though...she didn't really say."

"That's cool. Could you scoot over a bit? I'd like to sit too."

"Sure!" Haruka made some room, and the green-haired teen squeezed onto the couch.

"You _really_ need to get back on schedule, Fu. Waking up so late in the day is not a good thing to do in our line of work." chastised the older Uchiha.

"Kakashi said that nothing was planned for today, Sasuke...we don't always have to wake up at six or seven."

"You never know, though...he could always change his mind and take a job with us, or the village could come under attack."

"I'd wake up from the fighting if that happened, and I can easily force myself to get focused. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"_(Sigh)_ And _this_ is what I get for worrying about my teammate's future as a kunoichi…oh well, you're a friend. I can take the abuse."

Fu pouted. "I'm only a friend? By now I should count as a best friend, at least."

He chuckled. "Not with that attitude and your habit of always wanting me to be in _some_ kind of pain."

"It's all in good fun!" She turned her attention to Anza's newest students. "By the way...how's the training? As hellish as mine?"

If it was even possible, Noboru's eyes, which haven't recovered from revelation from earlier, got even wider. "Are you kidding me?! Hellish isn't the right word to describe it! Either it's all three of us against sensei or Haku, who is a lot faster than he looks, us trying to figure out the hardest parts of chakra control, or us doing at least three-hundred push-ups, curl-ups, and more! Each! Only recently did I learn how to use _one_ jutsu, and it can't even push a few fingers! And we've only won _one_ fight with Anza-sensei, at that was yesterday! That's how we got here!"

"Yep...'bout the same…but at least you're making progress."

"Yeah…and despite how hard it is, we have fun training together, so we can get through it without much complaint. Right guys?"

"Right!" confirmed the others.

Seeing how connected the trio was to eachother made the blonde jinchuuriki have a twinge of sadness. 'This...should be us...me, Anza, Sasuke, Fu, Kakashi...we all should be part of the same family, like them...and yet everything we once had has been torn apart, and I'm not sure we can fix those bonds at this point...no, don't think that, it won't do us any good. I have to believe that we can, or all that talk of bringing her back will only be talk. I almost got her once...I can do it again.' She shook herself out of her thoughts, and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV for everyone.

As Sasuke watched Mito surf through the channels, he remembered something that Akira said. 'Did he say 'summon', as in only one? I thought most potential contracts were under the ownership of a species...I must know more.' He leaned forward a bit to look at his much tinier cousin. "Hey, Haruka...I heard that Anza has a summoning contract. Do you know what it is?"

"Considering I lived where she got it for a couple years, yes. Fluffy's _so_ cool! He's _very_ strong, as he's able to fight mom and win, and he's very kind!"

"Creepily so…" mumbled Akira, getting the Sharingan user to change his attention onto him.

"What do you mean?"

"Daku...is strange. He looks so...I guess monstrous would be the best word to describe what he looks like in full, but when he speaks...it's like he's a human, not an animal who has been underground for a hundred years. He doesn't stumble in his words, and he has nothing bad to say about anyone, not even about how bad Noboru and I were at fighting at that time, only saying that we'd only get better with time. I don't know, maybe it's just me…"

Noboru shook his head. "No, I have to agree with you, Kira. Daku has this weird air around him...like he'll change at any moment. Probably can, if sensei gives the word...he seems to follow her orders as if they are the only things that matter."

"I...see...hey, what did you mean by monstrous? What _is_ this...Daku?" asked Sasuke.

"Sorry...Anza has specifically ordered us, alongside other things, to not reveal what Daku is without her consent. She prefers to have all her aces unknown."

"That she does…" 'Damn...if we don't know what it is, we can't properly protect ourselves against it if she summons it in our next fight...just what does she have? Was that fight against us all she could do, or is there more that we haven't seen? So many unanswered questions...the keys are in front of us, and we can't do anything to get them to spill their secrets without them running off, never to return. I don't want that to happen...Haruka hasn't even seen her relatives yet, and those two don't seem to be bad people. Just got to live with it, I guess.' He let out a small sigh that went unnoticed by everyone, and joined the rest of them in watching what was on.

**-_later_-**

"Aaaand that should do it!" said Kushina upon inflating the air mattress that one of the red and blue duo would be sleeping on. "Sorry we don't have any more real beds for you two to sleep on. Minato and I didn't think we'd have so many people staying here at any one time."

Akira waved it off. "It's no trouble, Miss Kushina, really. We've gotten used to lying on a hard cave floor inside of a sleeping bag, so an air mattress and a couch is fine."

She shook her head. "You would think that Anza would get _something_ other than those so that all of you could be comfortable when you rest. Then again, with what she's gone through, she probably got used to much worse, and doesn't really see the need for anything more than the bare minimum. Anyway, I'll let you two get to sleep. I need some myself."

They bowed their heads. "Thank you for letting us stay here, and thank you for the nice meal. Are you sure we don't have to pay you back?" asked the sword wielder.

"Yep! We haven't made Fu pay one ryo for living here, so we won't make you either. It just...wouldn't be right, you know? Well, good night, and we'll see you the both of you in the morning." The redhead left them, going upstairs to her own bedroom. Not going to wait any longer, they made their way to what would be their beds for the entirety of their stay, and plopped down onto them.

"I can't believe _I_ got the couch...and that we lost _rock-paper-scissors_ to an eight year old..._at the same time_. At least it's soft…"

"Hey, it's only fair that's what you ended up with, considering you are a little farther than me in training...but yeah...that was pretty embarrassing." said Akira.

"And we thought ourselves the kings of that game...no one in Miramashi could ever beat us, and then we met Anza, Haku, and Haruka...this has been an eye opening journey, hasn't it?"

"Yeah...who would have thought _we_, two ordinary civilians, would become students of a skilled missing-nin, the daughter of the Hokage, and not be kicked out in a few days? We got lucky when they turned up in our village, otherwise I'd still be working to take over the shop from dad, and you'd be...well...doing whatever you felt like. Most likely helping your parents with expenses."

"Hehe...most likely. Things sure have changed in only a few months…" Silence settled between them for a few minutes, but Akira had a nagging question in the back of his head.

"Hey, Noboru...you know how sensei said to draw our own conclusions on her parents, Mito, and the rest of them?"

"You want to know what I think about them so far?"

"Yes."

"Well...I don't know, Kira. I know she said there are specific reasons as to why they've been torn apart, but I can't seem to find them besides Mito's. Her parents seem like they are actually good people, and they looked happy when we told them that Anza-sensei was doing fine...I just don't know. We're going to have to dig deeper and find out just what happened to make her hate them so much if we're going to make an accurate assumption."

"We seem to have the same thoughts...I can't see any reasons, either...let's just get some sleep. We'll worry about it starting tomorrow." His teammate silently agreed, and they soon fell asleep on their comfy resting places.

* * *

Elsewhere, a dark, hooded man stood atop a cliff, looking over the canyon under him in relative boredom. From behind him, a plant-like being started to emerge from the ground, and when fully revealed, opened it's venus flytrap-like appendages to show it's mismatched face, one half white, the other the color of the void. The strange man had grass-green hair, yellow eyes, and wore a black coat with blood red clouds adorning it. "Zetsu. I take it you have a development for me?" said the other man.

"Yes. **It turns out that Anza's little group has separated.**" The being spoke in two separate voices, one from each side, a sign that it wasn't simply an extraordinary human...it was two different entities occupying the same body.

"And you can confirm this?"

"When we felt the spores we put on her resurface from underground earlier today, we checked. **She only had the one man in green with her, the other three were gone. It turns out the others are in Konoha, as when we tracked the one on the little girl, we ended up in a park with a view of that disgusting mountain.**"

He chuckled. "It would seem that little gamble has finally paid off. To think that they almost accidently ran into us, giving you the time to plant those spores on all of them without their knowledge...things have gotten interesting."

"What do you want us to do? She's ripe for the taking, and with this you could manage to gain a position in the Akatsuki."

"No, we won't do anything just yet. The timing isn't right...but in a few weeks…we will strike without mercy."


	52. Chapter 52

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 52**

Once the sun had risen enough to send streams of light down onto the still sleeping Mito's face from her blinds, she instinctively pulled the blanket over her head to avoid the growing amount of yellow she started to see behind her eyelids. 'Don't wanna get up...still tired…but I should...Sasuke will chew me out if I don't...' Begrudgingly, the blonde opened her eyes and got out of bed, where her gaze passed over...Anza's empty bed. 'Wait...empty? Don't tell me Haruka's already up...it's too early for eight year olds to get up...' Vacating her bedroom, she quietly made her way downstairs, making sure to not accidently wake anyone who was still sleeping, which seemed to be _everyone_, as not a sound could be heard from her position. '...Asura...'

"Yes?"

'...you woke me up early again, didn't you?'

"...maybe by a few hours. It's seven, I compromised with you."

'I guess...still don't really like it when you do that.'

"Sorry, but I won't let my descendent sleep in too long, not when there is so much you could do in the day, be that training or just living."

She sighed. 'You're not wrong...damn you and your logic.' Hearing him chuckle, she went back to concentrating on getting to the living room. When she did, she found nothing, just an empty bed and couch, but when she turned to look at the dining room, she saw her axe-wielding guest sitting in one of the chairs. 'Oh...all of them seem to be up. Must be a side effect from Anza's training.' Mito continued walking, and joined Akira and Noboru at the table. "Good morning. Sleep alright?"

The red one nodded. "Yeah. That couch is _much_ comfier than it looks. It didn't take long to fall asleep."

"And that air mattress was just fine. Kind of felt like I was sleeping back on my old bed back home." said Akira.

"Well, that's good. Having a hard time sleeping is definitely not a pleasant experience. As you two are up, and Haruka wasn't in her bed, I take it she's up as well?"

"She was up before the both of us, that's for sure. For who knows how long she's been doing a standard routine of pushups and curl ups in front of the coffee machine, taking small breaks to down a cup. We almost didn't get ours before having to wait for it to refill. Just to warn you, you may be running low on vanilla creamer."

"...are you serious?"

"Go see for yourself if you don't believe me."

"I'm good, I'll take your word for it. Does she usually drink so much of the stuff?"

"Not sure. Most of the time, sensei stops her from drinking anymore than two a day, but since she's not here...well...I think Haruka can't, or _won't_, properly moderate herself. Hasn't seemed to do anything to her besides keep her going, but when she's done doing her exercise, though…I'm not sure she'll be able to remain still for more than three seconds. A good fight probably would help settle her down if that happens."

"She likes to fight, I take it?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't _believe_. She always smiles when she spars, goads us to try harder almost _exactly_ how sensei does it to all of us when we fight her two-on-one, and when we get into a _real_ fight, I can almost imagine her grinning while cutting down enemy after enemy...I'm sure extended exposure to sensei is the reason she's like that."

"Yeah...probably…" 'That's...that's crazy! She's so young...and she's killed others?! Sure, Anza killed at _nine_, but she was being held captive at that time! Why would she let Haruka kill so early?'

"**I think the better question is...how is Haruka still so happy and seemingly unaffected by her soiled hands?"** suddenly asked the fox, but he didn't get an answer from her before the topic of conversation came out of the kitchen and sat down next to Mito.

"Ahhh….four-hundred of both…now I don't have to worry about doing them later!" she chirped, getting her fellow students to snicker.

"You don't like doing anything less than that, do you?" accused the fifteen-year old.

"Nope." The little girl turned to the jinchuuriki. "Hey...what's planned for today? I know we're going to see the Uchiha for a bit, but what else are we going to do?"

"Oh...um...I'm not sure. I just woke up, and with all the catching up we did yesterday, I haven't really thought about it...do you have something in mind?"

"Not really, I just wanted to ask. Guess we have to wait for the others to wake up before we get plans into motion."

Eventually, the people who weren't up yet made their way down to the living room, and after a quick breakfast, Sasuke, Mito, Fu, and Haruka were ready to walk out the front door. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us and see our cousins?" asked the teenage heir to the older apprentices, getting them to shake their heads.

"Yeah. If any of them are like our little demon, I'd rather stay here." said Akira, getting Sasuke to smirk.

"I get what you're saying. We'll be back in a few hours, then. Don't cause Kushina any trouble."

"We won't try to." Hearing that, Sasuke took everyone out of the house, leaving them alone with the full-blooded Uzumaki. They sat there for several minutes, silently watching the news, no one knowing how to open up a conversation with the other side. 'This is a perfect opportunity to ask, but wouldn't it be rude to suddenly ask without properly getting to know them first? We've only known them for a day...ah hell with it, we need to know. Parents and their children shouldn't be fighting each other without a good reason.' "Um...hey, Kushina? Can I ask you something?"

The redhead sighed. "It's about our relationship with Anza, isn't it?"

"H-how did you know?"

"You're not that hard to read, at least to a trained kunoichi. All day yesterday you were looking at me and my husband, sizing us up, trying to figure out who we are as people. Am I right?"

"Y-yes. With how little your daughter speaks about you, we simply don't know what we're dealing with. I mean, besides Minato being the Hokage and you being his wife."

"It's all good, don't think that you insulted us. Anyway, to answer your question...I'll need to grab something. Wait right here." She got up out of her chair and left, and in a minute came back with what looked like a photo album. Kushina set it on the coffee table in front of the couch, sat down between the foreigners, and opened the book to the first page, where a picture of two grinning parents holding their children greeted them. "You see this one? This was taken a month after Anza and Mito were born. It took _forever _to get them to stay still long enough for the cameraman to take it. Don't they look so cute?"

"Um...yeah...I...guess?" answered Noboru.

"I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with my question?"

"I'm getting there, Akira. Just look at these carefully, and tell me what you notice." Said man decided to shut up, and watched as Kushina flipped through the pages, where they got glimpses into Anza's childhood. She stopped after getting to a certain page, though, and couldn't help herself from smiling from the warm, happy feeling it gave her. It was a photo of Minato and an at the time five year old Anza laying on the same couch that they were sitting on, sleeping. Well, _Minato_ was laying on the couch, his daughter was laying on top of him, using his chest as some sort of pillow.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's pretty damn adorable."

"Yeah...it's one of my favorites. This wasn't the only time she decided to sleep either on her dad or right next to him, though, but I didn't take any of them. Anza...was really connected with Minato, more so than she was with me. She would always settle down while in his arms when she was a baby, absolutely _loved _it when he read stories aloud to her and her sister...out of the two of them, she was definitely daddy's little girl. And now...to see how far apart we are in comparison to back than...it breaks my heart...but none of you want to hear a mother ramble on about the past, do you? Let's continue with the little trip down memory lane." She went back to turning the pages, and after a while, stopped again on a picture of a certain birthday. "So...what do you notice when you look at Anza in all of these pictures? What does it tell you?"

"She...looked happy. Anza-sensei...had a happy childhood?" said the one in red.

"As happy as we could make it…which, in it's own way, made it easier for her to suffer. Do you know what happened on the day this last picture was taken?"

"Um...it says 'ninth birthday', so this was five years ago...yeah, I think so. Didn't she go missing?"

Kushina nodded, and flipped the page, showing almost no pictures. "On her birthday, she fell off a cliff, and was washed out to another country...where she was taken captive by bandits, and they did horrible..._horrible_ things to her."

Things started to come together in their minds. "That would explain why she hates bandits so much…"

"I would bet on it. It...also had another side effect. When she was held captive, she waited...and waited...and waited for _someone_ to come and save her...but no one did. Think about it...you're nine, your arm is broken, and you can't fight back. You pray for your heroic father, or for your mother, to come storm the camp, take you away from your suffering, and tell you that everything is going to be alright, yet that never happens, left all alone to be at the mercy of the bandits. You can't tell me that your views of your parent's wouldn't change after that."

"Wow...I...can see how everything could change after all that…"

"But why did you stop looking? You don't seem to be the type of people to just up and abandon your child." asked Akira.

"Because...we searched the river she fell into all the way to the border, and didn't find anything. We even had Kakashi and Tsume use their ninken search for her scent, only for neither of them to find her trail. Her sensei, Itachi, also volunteered to search for her alongside Minato and I, and if _we_ couldn't find her, it would definitely be him. He didn't even find a strand of her hair. We had no choice but to declare her dead, as that's what everything pointed to."

"But...what why didn't you go past the border?"

"It was the border we shared with Hanzo. If his shinobi caught us looking around without notification, we may have restarted a war, and we didn't have any time to send him a message. No one wanted to go through another one, even if our daughter was missing, maybe even in his custody, which would have presented a whole other set of problems...but considering all that's happened, we should have just risked it." She closed up the book with that. "Well...now you know how she came to despise us. You must think that we're horrible people for choosing our country over our family, huh?"

"Actually...I don't. You and your husband made a call that could have determined history and countless people's lives. Sure, the consequences seem rather bad now, but it possibly could have been much worse."

"Thank you...but that doesn't change the fact that _I_ believe that we're terrible. Really...we have no right to call ourselves her parents anymore, as we betrayed her trust and love." Kushina took the album into her hands, and took it back upstairs, where she got it from. It took a few minutes for Akira and Noboru to realize that she wasn't coming back down.

"Kira...they aren't bad people. Not by a long shot. The way she talked about Anza-sensei, the sadness in her eyes...there's no way that they don't care about her." voiced the latter.

"I know, Noboru...but what can we do to fix this? She obviously doesn't want to even be in the same _country_ as them, much less want to talk to them."

"That's...a good question...but we can worry about that a little further down the road. We still have vacation time."

"Yeah...I guess we can. Let's see what else is on." He walked over to the chair where the remote was, and began doing his own search for channels. In a few seconds, he found something that caught his eye. "Hey...isn't that the Chunin Exams that sensei would have participated in?"

"Uh...it says 'from two years ago', so...maybe? What are you waiting for? Let's see!" Akira clicked on it, and rushed back to his seat.

"_...match: Menma vs. Chojuro!_"

**-_later, with Team Seven_-**

"So, did you enjoy seeing your clan again?" asked Sasuke to his tiny 'cousin' after finishing up their trip to the orphanage.

"Yes! Kinda sad that I still can't lose to any of them in shogi, though…"

He smiled. "You're just too smart, then. Anza must have taught you a lot more than just being a ninja."

"Of course she did! Mom wouldn't let me stay as dumb as I was the last time I was here. I have too much talent for me to let it go to waste, she says."

"Why do you call her 'mom', anyway? She's only six years older than you, at most your relationship would be like sisters."

"Because...because that's what she is! She made sure I had food, she made sure that I was taken care of, she taught me things...in the end, she reminded me of my real mom, so I began calling her that. At first, she didn't want me to say that, but eventually she stopped trying, and now she even calls me her daughter! I can safely say that was the only battle I've truly won against her!"

"Okay, that makes sense, I'll give you that. That's...kind of the same thing with Minato and Kushina. They aren't my parents, but after living under their roof for so many years, I see them as something similar."

"See? It's not so strange! You want to make them proud, right? And to make them happy?"

The raven-haired teen nodded. "Yes, I do, at least in the 'happy' department. I remember seeing them so sad when Anza first went missing, and when I saw how heart-broken they were when she vanished again...that gives me the drive to drag her back here, even though she might be happy out there, but I know that if she would just look at who her parents are, she wouldn't see the need to run."

"She's not happy…"

Sasuke stopped moving forward after those words reached his ears, and the other teens stopped to stare at the little girl. "What?" asked Fu.

"Mom isn't really happy...every day, she just get's worse and worse...more and more homesick..."

"What makes you say that?"

"She thinks she can hide it from me, and that I don't see it, but I do...the pain in her eyes, the longing...she doesn't want to be a missing-nin travelling the world, she wants to come back. Mom says that home is wherever we want it to be, but I know that in her heart, Konoha is her home, no matter what...but she's scared, scared that if she were to, everything would come to an end by grandpa's hand, by everyone's hand." Haruka brought her hands up to her eyes, and began to sob. "N-nothing I do works! Mom...mom just keeps getting sadder by the day! I try t-to keep her happy, but it doesn't do anything! I...I hate seeing her like that, b-but...I can't! I can't make her stay h-happy!"

Immediately, Sasuke crouched, and put both hands onto her shoulders. "Hey, hey…" The smaller Uchiha uncovered her face. "...don't cry. There's nothing to cry about."

"But…"

"No buts. You're at least _trying_ to keep her from being sad, right?" She nodded. "Then you don't have to feel so bad about it, as you're doing your best. Now, let's go get you something to cheer you up. How about...some ramen from Ichiraku's?"

"_(Sniff)_ I'd like that…"

"I thought you would." With that destination in mind, they continued their march.

* * *

**A.N.: Another chapter where nothing really happens...but that will change with the next one.**

**Feel free to leave a review if you'd like.**


	53. Chapter 53

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 53**

Akira and his best friend were broken and defeated in Team Kakashi's training ground, as their assailant stood over them, and the aforementioned team sat on the side lines, watching with wide eyes. "Ugh...that...hurt a lot more than I thought it was going to..." said the hoodie-wearing man, his axe out of his reach.

"Yeah...wasn't...expecting that...ow…Haruka...can you remember that we're still not able to fight you when you're using full power? 'Cause we do…"

The young Uchiha let her head hang. "Sorry...I got carried away. I...just wanted to show just how much I've learned under mom since the last time they saw me for more than a couple minutes. Are you two hurt badly?"

Noboru sat up. "No...but we're going to need a few minutes before we can continue sparring."

"Okay." She put away the two kunai she used during the 'fight' and joined the dumbstruck teens and their sensei at the wooden posts. "So...what do you think? Am I good fighter?"

Sasuke was the first to snap himself out of it. "Yes. You...are far more skilled than I thought you would be...but considering who taught you, and how much Fu improved under her in only a couple months, it should be a given, especially as you're an Uchiha. Noboru and Akira just couldn't keep up, especially when you disarmed them. That was you using everything you've got?"

"Yep! Most of the time, I put a limit on myself so that they can get a good fight out of me, and when they can drive me in a corner, I ramp up the difficulty a bit. It was mom's idea, and thanks to that, it's been helping them learn how to fight steadily harder opponents without fighting _real_ enemies. An idea she learned from...one of her earlier teachers, she said, but I can't remember their name."

"I see...makes sense to reuse something that works." He switched his gaze to the two men, who were just getting up from the beating. "They're actually better than I thought. When I heard they were civilians, I didn't think that they would be able to coordinate their strikes so well together, nor use their weapons like they can."

"Well...we're old friends. We've known each other since..._forever_, and we've done quite a bit of things together, like me helping him in the forge while he was working with his dad, or us figuring out a difficult subject in school. Sometimes I feel as if I can read his mind, but I know that's because I know him so well. That's probably why we're good teammates despite being so inexperienced." answered Noboru in Haruka's stead, and he plopped back down onto the ground next to Mito.

"What he said. And concerning weapons...sensei does personal one-on-one training with us, using weapons similar to what we use: her katana for Noboru's tachi, and her scythe for my axe." filled in the reverse-colored sixteen year old.

"That thing _still_ gives me the creeps when it forms...or really anytime I look at it. Must be from the fact that it's made out of blood, and that when I asked her to show us how she used it in battle...well...none of the bodies of our enemies could bleed. You know...as it sucked them all dry. That alone is freaky."

"Yes it is." agreed the jonin, who promptly turned his attention to the small girl. "As I was watching, I couldn't help but notice...you didn't use any jutsus, yet you said you were going all out. Does that mean you don't know any?"

"Oh, no. I know five, but one of them is the Blood Forming Seal, and one of the others I can't do at all, like how Noboru can't do the Wild Water Wave. It requires a lot of chakra, chakra that I don't have yet, and a lot better control than I currently have. I know, I tried, all I got was smoke. The only ones I _can_ do are rather weak at the moment, and the strongest of those two sprays fire everywhere, so mom keeps telling me to use it only when necessary, or when there are no trees around."

"Well, it _is_ fire, and fire and trees don't mix."

"No they don't. I learned that very well while we were attacking a camp…luckily, we weren't hired by anyone at the time."

"...you started a forest fire, didn't you?"

"Yeah...it was bad, if mom's constant reminders are anything to go by, but I don't quite recall how bad it was."

"At least you learned your lesson. Hm...say, what does your Blood Forming Seal do? The kanji are mostly different than the ones that Anza uses."

"It creates daggers for me. Mom wrote it that way because of my short stature, small arms, and my quick feet. I hoped she would have wrote the same things that give her Solitary Midnight, but I'm happy with Whisper, it feels...natural in my hands."

"And I bet you get the same feeling using kunai, as you showed great usage of them during your spar just now."

"Yep! Did I impress you?"

"Of course. There's not that many eight year olds these days that can say that their proficiency in bukijutsu is greater than most genin." Haruka couldn't stop a face-splitting grin from growing on her face, and he couldn't help himself from smiling at the sight, but he became serious. "Alright, that's enough conversing for the time being. Team Seven, we have our own training to commence. When Kushina get's here, we'll change up to the normal routine."

"Right!" said the three members, who stood up and followed their leader to a spot away from the others.

"Well...should we sit here and watch them? We came here to train while they did their own things, but maybe we can pick up some things from them?" asked the sword wielder, but his 'superior' shook her head.

"Nah. Most of what they'll do mom has already shown us...but I don't feel like sparring anymore. How about we just try to walk on trees?"

"Sure, why not? We need to figure it out at some point, anyway." With that, the second group set themselves up at different trees, and charged forward. They all took one step on the bark, then two...three…

*_Crack*_

"GODDAMMIT!"

**-_later, Namikaze Residence_-**

Every member of both teams were strewed about the living room, tired and plagued by aches and pains due to their training. Dull ones that change into annoying pinpricks whenever they move in the cases of Anza's apprentices, but Team Kakashi minus the blonde had sores, cuts, and ice packs on their bodies. "Okay, I have come to the conclusion...that we can not keep both Kakashi and Kushina from joining up no matter what we do. They are just too strong…" groaned the amber-eyed girl.

"Gonna have to agree...at least we were able to keep them separated for an average of one minute and twenty-seven seconds...that beats our previous average, so that has to count for something." said Sasuke.

"A _whopping _ten seconds!"

"Ten seconds could mean life or death, so that's enough for me."

"...it was suppose to be a joke, duck-butt."

His eye subconsciously twitched at the nick-name. "...I hate you."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

He gave a light laugh, and brought himself to his feet. "I'm going to take a quick shower so I can get rid of the blood, sweat, and tears that those two got me to spill. Don't worry, it won't be a long one." The eldest Uchiha left his friends with that, his footsteps echoing through the house without the TV to drown it out.

"And we're just sitting here...wallowing in sorrow at the fact that we can't freely go up and down the trees like you three can." muttered Noboru, his face squashed against the floor.

"You'll get it eventually, it just takes some practice. I couldn't do it until I got to the Academy, but now it's like breathing to me. I know it will be the same for you." reassured Kurama's jinchuuriki.

"Yeah, eventually...but that doesn't help me feel any better. Especially my tailbone. I can't even sit up without it hurting, so I apologize in advance for spreading the dirt on my clothes onto your nice hardwood floor."

"It's fine, you don't have to apologize. You could take a seat in the recliner, though."

"I'm good, this is surprisingly comfortable. Besides...I don't particularly feel like getting up at the moment."

"You and me both." The rest silently resolved to do the same as their comrades, and one by one they took turns going upstairs and cleaning themselves, and the last one to go was Haruka, leaving all the teens in one room.

"...hey, Mito? Could you humor me for a moment?" suddenly asked the blacksmith's son, getting the girl to to turn to the man sitting on an air mattress.

"Um...sure? What do you want to ask me?"

"Say, by some miracle, you get sensei to come back...what then? If I'm correct, isn't she considered a criminal?"

"Yeah...so? Dad will do everything in his power to keep her from jail, or executed, or killed outside of the law. Yes, she will have to have _some_ kind of punishment, but it won't be any of those things, he would never let those things happen, especially not when we've lost her twice already. Then...I don't know, I guess we would try to repair our relationships with her."

"But what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes. If Anza came back, things got cleared up, and you had the chance to speak to her again without anger between the two of you...which relationship would you repair?"

"...oh. You mean…" He nodded. "W-well...I've been thinking about that myself, but no matter how many times I run everything through my head, I can never come up with a definite answer because, to me, I had two separate experiences with her. One was when we were growing up, and the other was when we were in the Academy, and subsequently, in the same team. One was the girl I grew up with, talked with at breakfast and dinner almost every day, and never considered her anything less than my best friend, and the other was the girl I wanted to know more about, drawn to her because of the mystery surrounding her, and eventually fell for...and then I learned that the two of them are one and the same. I just...can't figure out who I think of when I see her...but before I can determine where she stands on my mind, I have to first worry about getting her to just speak to me...to have her see me as a friend again."

"That sounds about right. Sorry if those were some strange questions, I was just curious about what would happen if she were to return...because me and Noboru, we're going to try to get her to come back."

This got all three of the teammates to go wide-eyed. "Wh...what?" stammered the mint haired genin.

"You heard me. We've been staying here for a awhile, and based on everything we've seen...Mito, you and your parents are not as bad as sensei thinks. She's been hurt by things you've all done, yes, but honestly...I can't see any of you as 'bad'. So when we rejoin her, we're going to see if there's any way we can convince her to at least _try_ to see the good in you. Don't know when that will be, but I guess...next month, as she _did_ give us enough money to buy food for a month..."

"Th...thank you...it would mean a lot to us if that could happen."

"No problem. Might be risking our apprenticeships, but an outsider's perspective combined with seeing both sides could very well be the thing that could start the reconnecting process. Now could you please turn on the damn TV? I'm sick of solely stewing in my own thoughts."

The Uzumaki chuckled. "Yeah...I can do that."

**-_sometime later, elsewhere_-**

"R...re...retreat! RETREAT!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! RUUUUN!"

"EVERY MAN FOR THEMSELVES!" The cries of desperate men resounded throughout the forest they were stationed in, fear deeply etched into their voices, but no amount of gods heard their pleas of terror. Every which way they went, they would met one of their ghostly killers, who would proceed to decimate them with a flick of their wrists. A shower of metal, fire so hot it melted flesh from bone, bodies ripped apart from marks placed on them by a grazing of the hand...there was no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel...they could only see the deaths of their former comrades...all until there was only one left.

"W-w-w-what the hell are you people?! Demons?!"

"Matter of fact, you might be right about that...superficially, of course. We're just humans like you. Except, _actually worth a damn_." responded his pale haired attacker.

"Ma'am, should I immobilize him for you?" said the other one draped in green.

"No, I like it when they squirm as if they think they have a chance of surviving! It's hilarious!"

The man clenched his fists. "You...you son of a BITCH!" He brought up his hatchet and charged at the woman, but she coolly and calmly dodged every swing.

"You're only _half_ right. I am a _girl_, not a guy. My chest isn't just for show, you know. You are _completely_ correct about my mother though."

He took a step back, out of breath. 'T-this isn't possible! No one should be this fast!' Out of options, he hefted his weapon, and threw it at her. "G-go to hell!"

In response, she caught it mid-flight. "Yep...that's probably going to be where I end up when I die. Tell you what...when I finally manage to kick the bucket, I'll meet you and the rest of your bandit friends down there, and we'll have a rematch." The masked warrior tossed the one-handed axe back at it's thrower, embedding itself into his knee, causing him to scream and fall to the ground in agony. "Sound okay to you?"

"Y-you're a MONSTER! A MONSTER!" he sobbed, getting her to snarl beneath her mask.

"You call me a monster, but to see the face of _true_ evil...all you have to do is look in the mirror. Your kind feed off of the despair of others, and _I_ feed off of the despair of people like _you_. But I digress...seeing as you can't move now, let me end your suffering." Before he could even blink, she crossed the distance between them and impaled her hand into his body, wrapped her hand around his stomach, and crushed it in her metallic grasp. "There we go. You won't last long now, so breathe your last." The haori-wearing assassin pulled her hand out, and turned to her friend. "Thanks for saying that I should get out of the cave, Glacius. I needed to kill some bandits to get rid of the frustration of my training."

"Your welcome, miss. When I saw the 'angry face', I knew you needed a distraction from it for a bit. Should we go to the town nearby and tell them about how close these guys were to them, or collect payment if they already knew?"

"Not this time. I'm feeling particularly good after this raid, and I don't feel the need to coach them out of their money. The _next_ bandit camp, though...we're getting paid for that one, whether or not I'm feeling nice. Let's get going, the smell of death is getting stronger by the minute." Haku nodded, and the duo started their aimless trek…until Anza felt a strong chakra register in her sensory field, and held out her arm to stop her friend. 'How...could I have missed that? There weren't any shinobi in that base...so who…?' "Stop hiding, I can sense you." At her call, a man in a black, hooded robe stepped out from behind a tree, and faced her, showing his spiral-patterned, one-eyed mask. "Who...are you?"

"I'm no one in particular...but to you, you can call me...Madara."

That name sent a chill down her spine. "M-Madara? The very same one who founded Konoha?"

"You would be correct."

"Then...what do you want with me?" As if something was waiting for that question to be asked, a plant-like..._thing_...started to emerge from the ground, and when fully revealed, it parted it's jaws, showing the dual-colored man inside...but what the whiskered Namikaze focused on the most was it's attire: a black cloak, with blood red clouds adorning its front, and upon seeing that, she summoned her katana.

"We simply would like to take a moment of your time."


	54. Chapter 54

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 54**

"By the great Kami above, how have we NOT been to this establishment since we got here?!" exclaimed the second-oldest of the three apprentices between mouthfuls.

"Because we usually go right back to Minato and Kushina's house after doing anything, and we eat there most of the time...but I have to say, this is better than I thought it would be. By the looks of this place, you wouldn't expect something this well made to be put out so consistently _and_ so fast." said Akira, who was eating at a far slower pace than his friend.

"I told you both Ichiraku's was great, but you didn't believe me! I think you owe me an apology!" scolded their small teammate, with two empty bowls stacked on top of each other in front of her.

"We don't owe you anything! Neither of us didn't know what to expect since we haven't _had_ this place's food before, so excuse me for being wary."

"You should know by now if I have something positive to say about something, I'm usually right."

"..._(sigh)_ you got me there, but my point still stands. It's _food_, not everyone likes the same things."

"...try telling that to Fu...and Sasuke...and Mito...and grandpa...and grandma...and-"

"I get it! I get it! Sheesh, you _really_ want that apology, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Fine! I'm sorry for not believing you about Ichiraku's, now can we be done arguing and finish eating? I'm sure these two nice people would like us to pay them for their hard work." Haruka nodded, and once the duo downed the rest of their bowls, Ayame passed the axe-user his check. "Okay, four-hundred ryo...sounds about right." Reaching into his back pocket, he procured his bulging wallet full of the money Anza gave him, and gave the woman the payment plus tax.

"Wow, have we even used any of that before today?" asked Noboru.

"Nope. Today's the first day we've dug into it. We have a _lot_ left to use…"

"Then why don't we go to the weapon shop and buy some supplies on our way back? We could always use more kunai and shuriken."

"Sounds like a plan." The three almost got up to leave, but the chef counting their money handed them a piece of paper, folded into a small square.

"Wait. I think this is for you."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, it was in the ryo you gave me."

Akira's eyebrows scrunched up, but he took the square nonetheless. "Well...thanks for letting me know. Have a nice day."

"You too."

With that little surprise out of the way, they left the ramen bar behind, and started their way back to their temporary home. "That's probably from mom. Could you unfold it? I want to see what's in it." asked the Uchiha.

"Yeah." Stopping in the middle of the road for a moment, he opened up the miniature package, revealing to them what was written inside.

'_Hey, it's me. Just wrote this in case I didn't make one thing clear in my extremely tired state. As you know, you're not staying there forever, whether you want to or not, as your training isn't done yet and just the thought of all of you staying so close to my flesh and blood sister and our parent's makes my blood boil. You'll only be there for about a month, and when that time comes, I will show up to collect all of you, no matter what you're doing at the moment. Don't worry, I'll let you say goodbye and all that. Besides that...I don't think there's anything else I need to disclose. Enjoy your stay, make sure you keep up the exercises, tell Sasuke and Fu I said hi, and I'll see you all in thirty days. Sincerely, your sensei.'_

"Huh...so I was right…but it would have been nice if she let us know about this before we left, though."

Noboru shrugged. "At least we know when we're going back. That gives us a definite amount of time to figure out the best way to phrase 'hey, we think it would be best if you came back to Konoha and fixed things with your family' without being punted back to Miramashi."

"I guess…man, this might be the hardest thing we'll _ever_ do in our training, 'cause I don't think sensei will really listen to us."

"And _that's_ why we have Haruka. She'll help us win over Anza-sensei." The dark-haired man turned to said girl. "Right?"

"Yep! Mom will certainly listen to anything _I_ have to say. I remember her saying that my happiness is the most important thing to her, so if I say that seeing her family reconcile would mean the world to me, she'll at the very least consider and think about it."

Akira absently mindedly nodded at the reminder as he re-folded the letter and put it in his back pocket. "Yeah...she won't be able to ignore what we have to say if all of us think the same way. Okay...what were we doing? Oh, right, going back to the house. Let's go."

* * *

Not everyone was having an exciting day, or even a semi-eventful one. It was business as usual for the two gate guards Izumo and Kotetsu...and that means not a single thing was happening. "Why do we always take this job? Hardly anything happens besides our shinobi checking in to either report their return or telling us they're going out on a mission. We could be out _there_, doing jobs that could potentially improve the economy, or even relations with other countries." asked the bandaged one.

"Why are you complaining?"

"Because this is all we ever do now that the Chunin Exams two years ago ended. There is just more we could do besides sit here and write down who passes through."

"Kotetsu, what we do is so much more than simply watching the gate. We are the first line of defence if someone were to attack, the first to put our lives on the line in the protection of Konoha's citizens. Gate duty is one of the most important missions a shinobi could ever get, you should feel honored that the Hokage trusts us enough to let us continually take this job."

"I guess I see your point...I just wish that we could take a different job once in a while."

Izumo rolled his eyes. "We'll do a mission together when we get off gate duty later this week, if that'll make you feel better, alright?"

"That sounds great...but Izumo...I think someone's coming down the road." He pointed to the distance. "See them?"

The more serious of them squinted, and his friend was right. He could barely make out two dark outlines moving slowly towards them, but before he could see anything that could help him identify who they were, they vanished. "They're...gone? Maybe you're right...we might need to take a break from-" Without even being able to finish his sentence, a hand collided with his face and smashed his head into the back wall, sending small cracks splintering off the impact zone and knocking him out.

"IZU-" As quickly as the attacker neutralized his friend, a sharp object embedded itself into his neck, and the chunin lost all function in his body, making his cry die in his throat. Before he could hit the ground, a masked, green robed man appeared behind him, grabbed him, and threw him onto his shoulder.

"Now they can't call for backup...good. I don't need every ninja in Konoha to swoop down upon me just yet. You know what you need to do, take these men as hostages and start going to the destination. I won't be treated like a joke anymore." said the woman who took out Izumo.

"It will be done." Hearing the confirmation, the girl vanished again, appearing in front of a desk...and the Fourth Hokage, who after feeling her arrival, stopped looking over his papers and lifted his head, going wide-eyed once seeing the 'kari' and 'juyon' bearing mask and stark white hair.

"A-Anza?"

"...so I was right all along."

"...what?"

"For _two years_ I mulled over what you said the last time we faced each other like this...two years I suffered for naught." Anza removed her mask, showing her father her normal purple eyes, but they were blood-shot. "I...wanted to be wrong. I wanted it to be true, that you didn't see me as...as some sort of spare, that you weren't lying when you said that I still held a place in your hearts...but now I realized...I'm nothing more than a problem to you, a threat to your rule. So I'm done skirting around the issue. I'm done with running, from hiding, from avoiding you any longer."

"What are you talking about, Anza?! What's going-"

"Silence. Wait your turn before speaking..._Minato_." The blonde felt everything he wanted to say leave his head at his daughter's saying of his name. "I tried to be someone that could be called...a hero. A hero that would always do their best to help the lesser man...but that all ends here. From now on, I'm taking up my new role…"

"W-what would that be?"

"...I am the villain of this story, what else could I ever be? This world continues to screw me over, to show me my path is wrong, so I'm finished with fighting it." She pulled a kunai out of one of her seals and stuck it right into the Yellow Flash's desk, next to his left hand. "Starting today...I'm declaring war on Konohagakure. I'm calling you out, and you better take me seriously, as I have two of your shinobi in my custody, and I'm fully willing to kill them and send their bodies back to get your attention."

"No...you didn't…"

"Oh yes, I did. You have three days: two to prepare, and on the third I expect you to show up to my choice of battleground. Bring as many of your shinobi as you want, I don't care anymore. As long as you are one of the men facing me on that third day, I'll stay complacent, but if you don't...I'll start burning down all of the Land of Fire until you decide enough is enough. So choose your poison...and I'll meet you where the Hokage and the greatest traitor held their final battle."

"Wait! Please, Anza, answer my-" Too late. As he reached out to grab ahold of her arm, she left him alone in his office in that void-colored Hiraishin, and for several seconds after, Minato just stared at where she stood. 'What...what just happened? I...I thought that from what Haruka, Akira, and Noboru have told me, she wasn't showing any signs of reigniting our conflict, much less declare war on everyone in Konoha!' He could feel his teeth start clenching in frustration, so he ran a hand through his spiky locks in an effort to settle down and sift through the new problem at hand. Minato didn't get much time to do that, though, as the kunai embedded into his desk started glow at the handle, and when he eyed it, he saw an explosive tag wrapped around it. 'Uh oh...' Without a second to waste, he launched out of his chair and broke through the window, crashing into the streets below. The sound of the tag releasing its stored up energy echoed above him, and in a matter of moments Anbu, civilians, and normal forces alike convened onto his position as he watched the top section of the Administrative Division burn.

"Lord Hokage, what happened?" asked a familiar scar-nosed instructor.

"...Anza happened…"

"What?!"

"I know…luckily there wasn't anyone on that floor besides me..." He shook himself free of his own shock. "Help get this fire under control. I...need to go home after what I just heard in there."

Iruka nodded. "I understand. We'll take care of this."

"Thank you, I'll make sure all of you get paid for your troubles." Minato teleported to his front door, where his wife was just leaving the house. Right before she could say anything, he held up a hand. "I'm okay, Kushina, but don't ask me what happened just yet. I'd rather everyone to be at home before I tell. It...will be much easier that way."

**-_a few minutes later_-**

"ANZA/SENSEI/MOM WAS HERE?! AND SHE DID WHAT?!" yelled Anza's former teammates, team leader, mother, and her students, making the older man wince from the sheer volume of their voices.

"Quiet down a bit, please...but yes, she was the reason for the explosion and the plume of smoke coming from the Academy."

"But...but why...why would she do that? Did she say?" asked Haruka, getting a shake of the head.

"No, not at all. All she did was ramble on about how she was right all along, that she was done running, and how she's going to be embracing her new role as a villain. Then she declared war on us, and now I have to meet her in three days."

"That makes no sense...she has no reason to attack Konoha...something's wrong! I know it!"

"That's the feeling I was getting, but she didn't bother to explain what's caused her to become hostile, so I'm left with nothing to go on."

"Where is she wanting you to go to?" asked the redhead.

"She said 'where the Hokage and the greatest traitor held their final battle', so my guess would be the Valley of the End...an unfortunately fitting place, and to make matters _worse_, if I don't show up at all, she will start killing people until I do...so I'm going to classify this as an S-Rank mission, and I'm going to bring a team with me so I can lower the risk of her dying while trying to win."

The flame-colored Noboru stood up, and put a hand on his chest. "Then take us with you! I know if she saw us with you, she won't risk us being injured, giving us the time we need to get her back to her usual self!"

The Hokage pinched his nose. "...I'm sorry, but no."

"Why?!"

"Because the risk is too great. We don't know what's wrong, or even if something _is_ wrong. For all we know she's somehow being mind-controlled and won't be able to tell if you are really who you are, so while we're dealing with this, you will remain here, away from the fight." Knowing that what he was saying was logical, the sword-wielder plopped back down on the bed next to Akira, muttering 'damn it'.

"Mind control? Minato, that doesn't make any sense either. Anza _can't_ be put under a genjutsu, not with her Sharingan and the biju she has." reasoned the eldest Uchiha.

"I know it sounds unlikely, but we have to consider everything, Sasuke. At this point, nothing is impossible. Now, I do have a question for you, Fu, and Mito: will you join me in detaining Anza?"

"Are you kidding?! Of course we will! We would go with you even if you didn't ask!" exclaimed his blonde daughter, getting him to nod.

"I figured as much. Kushina, what about you?"

"Gladly. It would seem as if our daughter needs some tough motherly love, and I would be more than happy to give it to her. Are you going to ask Kakashi, as well?"

"Yes. He wouldn't want to miss this chance at bringing her back."

Mito put a hand on her chin. "That would make a six-man team...hey, dad? Can any more join?"

"The more we have to divert her attention, the better. Who do you have in mind?"

"I think it's time the Rookie Nine got together again."

**-_three days later, Valley of the End_-**

On the coast on the Land of Sound's side, Anza and Haku sat next to each other, eyes closed as if they were meditating for the oncoming battle, while their hostages were lying behind them, unconscious due to the needles in their necks. "...are you scared, Anza?"

"...no. I am not afraid of the storm that comes our way. The only thing it'll do is make us stronger than before."

"You know that if we do this, there's no turning back. We will never be hired again, as our names will travel throughout every country."

"I know...but I don't care. The world has been against me from the start...a few countries won't make much a difference to me. I'll stand against them all if I have to."

"So we're prepared to deal with the consequences of our actions?"

"...no, but I'm certain that we can get through them." The snow-haired teen opened both eyes, Sharingan activated for combat. "They're here." No sooner than she said that her father dropped onto the opposite side, next to Hashirama's statue, followed by her mother, Kakashi, her teammates, and her old clan heir friends. "So...you've come after all."

"What else was I suppose to do, Anza?! You threatened Konoha and the entire Land of Fire with _death_! I wasn't going to let you murder innocent lives just so you could get a chance to fight me!" yelled Minato.

"Indeed, what else could you have done?" Anza and Haku both stood up, and with a small wave of her hand Kotetsu and Izumo vanished from sight. "And you've brought my graduating class with you. Smart."

"Where did you send them?"

"Oh, the gate guards? Back to Konoha. You're here, so I have no need for them any longer. Is this everyone?"

"Yes. We won't need anymore to beat you."

"So you think...better make sure that you protect them with all you have, because I won't be holding back." Simultaneously, the mercenary duo vanished, and reappeared on the top of the stone Madara's head. "Let's get one thing straight...after today, there will be no more fights between us. This...is our final battle!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Excellent! Haku, let's show them what we can do!"

"Very well!" He began going through hand seals...with one hand, an action that his leader mimicked, and they ended on the 'tori' seal. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Lava Release: Magma Dragon Bullet!"

* * *

**A.N.: Almost an entire week since the last update...sorry, I had a surprise family reunion, and I opted to spend some time with them.**


	55. Chapter 55

**A.N.: Hey...sorry about the long wait between this chapter and the last one. It...got a lot longer than I thought it would as I was writing it. Hopefully, this makes up for it, but I think I messed up in some spots...you might be able to see where.**

* * *

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 55**

At the enemy team's call, both the ground and the water in front of both statues started to rumble and quake. A section of rock began to glow, first a light orange before getting hotter and hotter, ending on a deep crimson, than both it and the waterfall exploded in a show of power, forming giant winding, dripping, draconic analogues, which snaked their way onto Madara, ending with their heads next to their creators. Anza summoned her Kiba blades and jumped onto her jutsu's head, an action that Haku mirrored with his. "Let's get this started!" she shouted, and the dragons charged onward to the other side, gliding through the air like they were weightless. The twelve-man team got into defensive positions, and when the duo got close enough to crash into them, they prepared to jump out of the way, but the behemoths didn't do such a thing. Instead, to their confusion, the one made of lava went to their left while the blue one went to their right and began circling around them like vultures.

"Don't let your guards down! Be ready for anything!" shouted the Hokage to his ninja, getting all of them to silently nod. "Kushina! Try to stop them!"

"Right!" The Uzumaki raised her hands and sent out ten golden chains, five for each elemental monster, and right when it seemed she was going to touch one, a pure white one slapped it away each time. "I can't! She's creating her own to counter mine!"

"Let me try." said Kakashi, who proceeded to lift his headband to reveal his Sharingan, and charged a large amount of chakra into this hand, making lightning cover it. He followed the movements of Haku's Water Dragon Bullet, waiting for the best moment to strike...but then their foes went straight up into the sky above, behind the low-hanging clouds out that day. 'This...doesn't bode well. If they didn't attack us then...that means that they have something far worse in store for us...but what?' His answer came when a single bolt of lightning came to life in the puffy, ivory clouds, and both constructs came back into view, intertwined with each other as they spun like a drill, with Anza holding her dual-swords out, blanketing the jutsu's in electricity. "Move...NOW!" The Konoha-nin jumped in every direction, and not too soon, either, because not even a second later the attack collided into the ground, kicking up debris. Once the ash and smoke settled, Haku and his leader stood in the crater, back-to-back.

"Combo attack number one is complete...we hit no one, ma'am." said the black haired man.

"As expected…but we're not done, are we?"

"No...I still have almost all my chakra."

"Good...we take them on together."

"It's our only option. They're too strong to be taken on alone."

"Then I guess we better continue, then." She passed him the right half of her blades, and turned to Team Asuma. "Them. Show no mercy."

"Anything you say." Haku formed a single seal, and faced the same direction as Anza. "Ice Release: Certain-Kill Ice Spears!" Frozen spikes jutted out of the ground and approached the childhood friends, who avoided getting skewered by jumping again, but as Shikamaru landed, a single kunai cut through the air and passed by his head, bringing the albino with it, arm already poised to slice through him...and for a split second he looked into her eyes, and saw something no one her age should have.

'Her eyes...they're clouded with almost unbridled amounts of anger...but why at us? We're not the ones she's angry with...or does she consider us the same as her family? But if that's true...then why?' He tried to form a seal to use his clan's Shadow Imitation Technique, but he knew that he probably wasn't going to be fast enough to stop her from killing him, and even if he did, there was the other one to deal with. His situation was bleak at best...until a bright flash took over his vision, and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed over the running water.

"Did you think I'd forget about the mark I put on you long ago? Or that I'd let you kill one of my shinobi while I was here?" asked Minato.

"No. I saw an opportunity and I took it, something you and every warrior worth their weight would do in my situation."

"You have a point, but…" He summoned another kunai, forced her sword arm away, and made a slash at her. Anza easily saw this and retreated a few paces back. "...doesn't mean I like it when you do it to people who are your friends."

"And I...don't care. How many times do I have to say it?" Her teammate joined her in standing against the man responsible for her existence, but the rest of the retrieval team surrounded them, leaving no openings for them to attack. Almost like she already planned for this, she jumped straight into the air, formed butterfly-like wings to keep her from falling back to the ground, and threw kunai after kunai at her foes and at the surrounding area. Taking it to the next step, she teleported to a random one, appearing next to Kakashi, and tried to bisect him, only for the experienced shinobi to deflect the slash, and they began to trade blows.

"Hm...I knew you've gotten better when I watched you fight Mito, Sasuke, and Fu a couple months back, but now that I'm actually fighting you...you're giving me a workout by yourself, and I know how you fight, unlike the first time we fought." mused the silver-haired jonin.

"And we both have the Sharingan, so we're pretty much at a stalemate...unless…" Suddenly, Haku was next to them in a black flash similar to the one she used, forcing him to split his attention.

'They're quick...far quicker than almost anyone their age. This...Haku...he's just as fast as Anza is normally and has Ice Release. They also move in tandem with each other...this could be a lot harder than I thought.' In no time, they started to overwhelm him with their teamwork and sheer speed, using the jutsu that his sensei made famous like it was child's play. Seeing the trouble he was in, everyone rushed into the fray to stop them, only for the two allies to blink out of sight, reappear behind all of them, and started using their jutsus less liberally. The feminine male summoned liquid needles out of the air, which Anza proceeded to charge with electricity, and fired them, hitting all but the fastest of them. As they suffered electrocution, Anza shrouded herself in Chomei's might and dashed forth with Haku, landing a punch in Choji's gut that sent him flying, and the kimono-wearing boy moved to knock Shino out the old fashioned way.

"Don't touch him, Haku! His bugs will suck you dry!" warned the white-haired demon, who then had to block a strike from Sasuke's tanto.

"Why are you doing this, Anza?! What's possessed you to wage war on your home?!" he asked, getting her to scowl.

"Home?! I have no home! I never did! My so called 'home' is nothing more than a traitor's paradise, and I don't want any part of it!"

"Traitor's paradise? What do you-" His sentence was cut short by powerful punch in the jaw, courtesy of the ice user, that sent him back a few feet.

"I won't let you touch my leader…" he coldly warned the Uchiha, who decided to stop warming up and activated his eyes.

"I thought you were taking care of Shino." said the half-Uzumaki.

"I was, but I saw that you were having a bit of trouble, so I decided to come help. Not that you needed it against him."

"Well...thanks."

"Your welcome." He turned his attention back to Sasuke. "Any who wish to harm her have to go through me first."

"I don't want to harm her, but if she won't stop being an idiot, I have no choice but to fight her! And if I have to fight you too, then so be it!" He formed the 'tora' seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The scorching hot technique barreled down towards Haku, who didn't move an inch to dodge, he simply held out his hands, and a wall of ice materialized in front of him. 'That won't work...fire melts ice, his defence won't hold.' His jutsu hit Haku's, exploding in a fiery cloud. Then both of them ran out from the blast zone, unharmed, and closed the distance between the three of them in a matter of seconds. He tried to block with his weapon, but his former teammate brutally slashed down on it, knocking him slightly off balance, allowing Zabuza's prodige to land a shallow slash on his arm...then Anza got one on his torso. Doing his best in this situation, the raven-haired boy fought back, with negligible results. When he tried to stab one of them..._any_ of them, the other would deflect his strike, leaving him open to attack, something the two of them punished _terribly_...until the one in a haori broke off contact, grabbed Haku, and went to one of the kunai.

"Damn it, she felt it coming! I was so close!" he heard the Nara say, and when Sasuke looked at him, he saw his shadow extended all the way to him.

Anza narrowed her eyes at him. "You're going to be a bother...a single second in that jutsu could decide the fate of this battle...you must be eliminated quickly...but I also have to worry about everyone else…I know how to deal with that." In both her hands and her subordinate's, their swords went up in smoke.

"So we're going to _that_ plan already, huh?" asked Haku.

"Yes. We stand no chance trying to go up against one of them at a time...but if we attack _all_ of them, we have a shot at taking at least one down." Eight chains grew out of her body, four on her back positioned like scorpion tails ready to strike, and one plastered on each arm and leg. Putting on a burst of speed, they went after Shikamaru, but everyone descended upon them. Snarling at the further annoyances, Anza dug into the ground, an action the only man on her side mirrored, and decided to fight them as they came. Using the ethereal jutsu the Uzumaki created, she made large, sweeping movements with her arms, letting the chains lengthen to hit everyone in a certain radius, smacking them away. Haku, on the other hand, blazed through seals behind her, causing uncountable amounts of frozen stalagmites to periodically shoot out of the dirt around them. All of this made the journey to them rather perilous, so in the end, the larger force stopped advancing and took a look at the predicament.

"Damn it, they've formed a defensive perimeter! Hardly anyone can get through _that_!" yelled the amber-eyed 'sister' of Anza, turning to Minato with desperation awash on her face. "Can't you bring her away from that guy with your Hiraishin? 'Cause than this would be a _lot_ easier!"

Said man shook his head. "That would be true if she was an inanimate object. To transport someone I have marked to me, they have to want to let me do so...and I will not get such permission from her anytime soon...but I do think I can get past their formation…" He formed his signature jutsu and prepared to teleport above Anza, but stopped when he saw Haku suddenly create a rectangle and stepped through it, disappearing afterward. When that happened, his pale daughter also vanished without a trace, leaving behind an icy battlefield. '...uh oh...'

"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu!" yelled the mercenary from the air, and everyone looked up in time to see two fist-sized globs of melted rock falling towards them. Ino and Mito, the ones seemingly being targeted, rolled out of the way, and when the Namikaze looked at where the shots came from, she only found what looked liked the rectangle Haku disappeared into.

'Odd...where are they?'

"**By the statues!"** yelled Kurama, but by the time the blonde turned, there was another ball of liquid fire roaring towards the team, this time aiming for Shikamaru.

'I guess she does think I'm a threat!' Like the last two, the member of Team Asuma stepped out of the way, but when he thought he was safe, a senbon came from the same direction and stuck into the ground just centimeters away from his foot. 'That...was close...' "They're throwing senbon, everyone! Make sure you keep moving when you see her jutsu, or you'll get hit!" Right after saying that, lava and medical needles began to come from every direction, and no matter how many times any of them looked at where they came from, they never saw the highly skilled shinobi, just light blue sheets of ice.

'This is ridiculous! How can they be so fast, when Anza never even showed this much speed before calling on more of Chomei's, Son's, or Isobu's power?!' mentally yelled Mito.

"It's that boy...he uses those ice sheets in a similar vein to your father's Hiraishin, using them to be in multiple places at once. Anza uses the Hiraishin mark she put on him to travel with him at the same speeds and launch impossibly fast barrages. At this rate, we're stuck waiting until they run out of chakra. They have to be destroyed!" said her ancestor, and understanding what he meant, she called upon Kurama's chakra, getting an eight-tailed shroud.

"Dad! I know what we have to do, so could you help me?"

Minato dodged another lava ball and nodded. "We're going after whatever that jutsu is, aren't we?"

"Yeah. You follow Anza, I'll take care of the ones farthest away. She'll have no where else to go but back to the ground."

"Understood; sounds like a plan." He formed a second Rasengan and got to work, using the mark on the white-headed twin and smashed the mirror he found himself next to, yet Anza had already moved onto the next one, so he did as well. While he chased after her and Haku, the other blonde used the malleable chakra around her to form giant paws so she could take out the mirrors from a distance, while also creating earth-shaking shock waves with her roars to disperse the Scorching Stream Rocks and help protect her friends. In no time at all, they dwindled the mirrors down to one, Haku deciding that creating any more would be useless now. He jumped out of it shortly before it shattered in a million pieces, and he and his younger leader fell to the ground, panting. Without giving them much time to rest, Sasuke took the initiative, rushing towards Haku and throwing out a punch, which the Ice Release user barely avoided. Seeing no other way out, he returned the punch, but it didn't land thanks to the Sharingan and the Uchiha's speed. Sasuke socked him in the jaw, and when that didn't seem to faze his opponent, he did it again...and again….and again. Anza appeared above him, Rasengan in hand, but he was saved by Mito, who jumped and kneed her sister in the side, sending her tumbling. Silently thanking her, he continued the beatdown with a gut punch, lifting up the other man, hit his stomach twice more, and ended his combo by kicking him back down to the earth.

"Ugh...gah...oww...she's...fast…I think a rib's broke…" wheezed the missing-nin, who put pressure on the sore spot. "Haku...you're still conscious, right?"

He coughed. "Yeah...but I don't know how much longer I can fight...chakra's running low…using my jutsu's on such scales, and for so long..."

"Can you do one last jutsu with me?"

"You can feel how much I have...of course I can, just...didn't think we'd ever have to use _it_." Fighting through the pain, they flipped back up on their feet, and jumped back to get some distance. The aura around the jinchuuriki constricted around her and blackened into her 'version two' four-tailed mode, and they went through three hand seals, each one forming one half of each. After completing the last one, hare, they both punched the ground, first causing the rocks and soil in the immediate area to frost over, then the entire valley started to shake before the icy section started to rise into a cone-shaped structure.

"Wh-what is that?! A mountain?! They can create goddamn mountains now?!" shouted Kiba, Akamaru barking in a similarly angry tone.

Anza chuckled at his frustration. "No...we can do _so_ much worse…" In the cavity behind her, the rock melted, setting the air ablaze with orange, then it turned icy blue, making fog roll down the 'mountain'. "I...am the fire that never can be quenched! I rage against and consume anything in my path, killing all the scum in the world and all who have wronged me! Stay out of my way, for I am luminous Chimera, and I will strip the flesh from your bones with my flames!"

"And I am unrelenting Glacius! When you run from her, I am the cold lying in wait to fill your heart with dread and despair! You may avoid one of us, but you can never get away from both!"

"Ultimate Secret Combination: Lava and Ice: RAGNAROK!" They finished their speech, ending with the blue lava rocketing into the sky and Haku forming a barrier around him and Anza. It became clear that it most of the attack was falling towards the twelve-man team, so Kushina stepped up to the plate.

"Stay still everyone!" she warned, and without waiting for confirmation she summoned multiple chains which curved around them. A see through energy filled the gaps between the chains, creating a dome over the Konoha-hin. The jutsu collided with it, slightly warping the barrier for a second, and after a minute of constant impact, it ended, leaving the strange liquid building up on the ground outside...and yet, even though it was done, the dome her daughter was in didn't disappear. 'Is...there more to it than that? ...I should keep the barrier up.' It was a good thing she did, as the lava-like substance froze over and violently shattered, throwing millions of spikes all over the area. After waiting a few seconds to see if anything more would happen, she let the chains disperse.

"Thank you, Kushina. That would have killed a lot of us." thanked Shino, without taking his eyes off of the hopefully empty volcano.

"Don't thank me yet, Anza's still not incapacitated. She could have a lot more under her sleeve."

Up on the rim, the ice that surrounded the mercs fell to pieces, with Haku sweating and barely standing. "We...hit everything...but them…Anza…" His legs gave way, but the whiskered-girl saved him from falling face first into rock, and laid him down. "I'm sorry...I...can't continue…"

"No...I should be sorry. This is my fight, yet I dragged you into it without thinking. I should have asked if you wanted to, but I didn't, blindly forcing you to come along."

"It's...fine. Your fights...are my fights. Your enemies...are my enemies. There's...nothing for you to feel...sorry about. I simply...did what I always...wanted to do...help my friend…I wish I could have...been more help, though..."

She smiled a bit. "You are a good friend, Haku. Better than any I've had before you. Rest for a bit, I'll take over from here."

"Can do…" He closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed down to a gentle rise and fall. She summoned a clone, who knew it's orders and picked the downed man up bridal style, and left it's creator behind. Anza stood up, letting her head hang just enough to cover her eyes.

"I suffer no delusions. There's...no way I can beat all of you. Maybe one or two, but that's it. Even if Haku had the same reserves I do...today is the day I fall to Konoha. We knew that…"

"Then why are you fighting?! If you know you're going to lose, if you know that it's futile, then why are you doing this?! Tell us what's going on, Anza!" roared Sasuke, making her jolt her head back up, her eyes cracking into her Mangekyo.

"Why am I fighting?! Because of the horrible things you either did, or let happen! My apprentices...the girl that considers me her new mother...I won't let their imprisonment, their TORTURE, go unpunished!"

"...what?"

"Try to play innocent all you want, but I know the TRUTH! THE TRUTH OF ALL OF YOU! YOU COLD, HEARTLESS, BASTARDS!" Her shroud came back, erratic and shooting in every direction. One by one, tails formed out of it...and it didn't stop at three, or four, or seven. It climbed higher and higher, from eight, to ten, to twelve...to fourteen.

"**That's...not good. Not good at all. The full power of three biju run through her veins, and **_**we**_ **are going to be on the receiving end of all of it. She's not holding back anymore…but not even that will be able to help her in the end, not when some of the best Konoha has to offer is right here in front of her."** said the more talkative half of the fox before Anza vanished from her perch and went down to the same level as the rest.

"This...is my last stand. I'll...make every last one of you _pay with your blood_...because I thought...thought I could…" Her eyes and hands squeezed shut, and the amount of force she was putting them through caused her gauntlets to start to crack at the fingers, which she ignored by using the seal she put on Sasuke to appear above them all. A large amount of chakra surged to her right foot, and when she landed, slammed that boot into the ground as hard as she could, breaking the ground apart and sending Sasuke, Ino, and Kushina airborne. As everyone made a move to attack her, she went back up, coming face to face with the Yamanaka, who shivered at seeing the face of madness Anza had. "Hello Ino! Get the hell out of my sky!" She instantly formed a Rasengan and slammed it into her stomach, sending Ino spiralling into the ground. The platinum blonde rolled after crashing, and before she could get up, the snow-haired kunoichi planted a foot on her back, grabbed her by the ponytail, and tugged. "My my...I remember you had long hair the last time I saw you, but now it's as long as mine! Regretting that now, aren't you?"

"S-stop this, Anza! We're your friends! We don't have to fight!"

"...friends? FRIENDS?!" She let go of the hair and changed the position of her foot from Ino's back to her head, stomping it into the dirt. "That's what I thought we were! I _trusted you_, I trusted all of you, and instead all I get is _betrayal_!"

"H...h-how...did we betray you? You barely talked to us when you came back as Menma!"

"YOU LET MY FATHER TORTURE MY STUDENTS! You, the daughter of Inoichi, one of the top members of the Intelligence Division! You had pull over what would happen to them, and you either _didn't care_, or wanted them to suffer so _I_ would suffer!"

"Do you realize how crazy that sounds?! Your dad would never-"

"He's the Hokage, of course he would, because I was an 'unstable element', and therefore must be rid of by any means necessary, even if innocents must be sacrificed. Don't try to make him sound like a good guy, because I have proof he isn't. Now die like a good little _bitch_." She tried to crush Ino's head, but her leg wouldn't move anymore. "Oh, you sneaky little rat…using our little conversation as a means to use your jutsu..."

"Choji! Grab her NOW, while I have her restrained! I don't know how long I can hold her!" yelled the Nara, and his teammate complied, enlarging his hand to a gargantuan size, almost completely enveloping Anza in it, only leaving her head and legs visible. "Ino!"

"I know!" Pushing herself onto her feet, she formed a hand seal where both thumbs, index, and middle fingers touch, leaving a circular opening. "Mind Body Switch Jutsu!" Both her and the Namikaze went limp, with the latter losing her cloak, but before Ino could fall Shikamaru ended his technique and grabbed her.

"Well...that was a lot easier than expected. Now all we have to do is find Haku and we're done." commented Fu.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah...but that seemed..._too_ easy. Maybe I was just expecting more, since she activated the strongest form of the Sharingan...oh well, now she's in our custody." He turned to Shikamaru. "How long can Ino hold her jutsu? Will we have to take more serious measures?"

His brows scrunched up. "That depends...how strong do you think her will is? Or can biju interfere with things like genjutsu?" As if to answer his question for him, a black mist started to seep out of every opening in Choji's hand.

"Um...I think something's wrong…" said Anza's captor.

Something clicked in Minato's mind. 'Wait...that fog...I saw it once before...it was when...oh no...' "LET GO! SHE'S GOING TO SUMMON SUSANOO!"

"Susan-what?"

Anza's eyes shot open. "GET OFF OF ME!" The energy expanded outward, forcing Choji to let go, and now that she was free, she restarted her assault by attacking the one who just had a vice-grip on her. Seeing that, Choji tried to use his still giant hand to punch her, but her own arm changed, becoming a large ape arm with red fur and green skin, and collided with it. "You think that you're tricks will work on me?! The Shadow Imitation Jutsu can't hold me for long, you don't have the strength I can conjure up, and NOTHING CAN TAKE OVER MY HEAD! NOT YOU, NOT INO, NOT ANYONE! SO COME ON, DO YOUR WORST, FATSO!"

"Grr...I am not fat! I'm big boned!" The Mangekyo user brought all fourteen tails back and hopped forward, kneeing the Akimichi in the chin and sending him a couple feet back.

"Say what you want, it doesn't change what you are!" The sheer rage in her former friend's eyes was unmistakeable, and he rapidly inflated into a ball, tucked in his limbs, and began to spin extremely fast. He then sped off to crush Anza, who caught him with her hands, pushing her backwards and shattering the palms of her gauntlets from the resulting impact. "I will say...you are FAR stronger then I would give you credit for...you even broke my gloves...but you can never match me!" Two of her tails changed into arms and joined her in stopping Choji, grabbed ahold of him like he did to her, and threw him at the rest of her father's team, but before he could hit anyone, her twin saved him, and he shrunk down back to normal, ready to fight another round. "Who's next?! I will show you why I was the best in our class!" Everyone charged, and she brought out her signature katana, complete with it still in it's sheathe, to help combat them. Sasuke started the brawl by spewing a Great Fireball, only for it to be cut in half and rendered useless by Anza. The first to actually engage her were a eight-tailed Mito, and a Byakugan-wielding Hinata. The Hyuga tried to hit her tenketsu, but the armored ninja deflected, grabbed her arms, and pulled her to towards her, and struck her back when she maneuvered around Hinata, sending her sprawling to the ground. Turning to prepare for her sister, she blocked a punch that made her arm scream for mercy, but gritted her teeth and bared it.

"This is my last warning, Anza! Please, just surrender! None of us want to fight you! We can clear up everything concerning Akira, Noboru, and Haruka!"

"Why would I listen to you?! Any of you?! I knew that letting them go to that cursed place would end terribly, but I trusted that not even you, Minato, and Kushina would harm them, but NO! You throw them in prison! All because they have ties to ME! One of them is only eight!"

"You're not even going to call mom and dad your parents?!"

"I HAVE NO PARENTS! THEY DON'T DESERVE THE TITLE! They left me for dead...they mistreated the people who wanted to meet them! THEY DESERVE TO ROT IN A HOLE FOR ALL ETERNITY!" Anza managed to land a gut-punch, causing Mito to spit out some saliva, and hit her twice in the face before having herself struck by...someone, she couldn't quite tell in her rage, so she poured chakra into her lungs and roared a mighty roar, sending everyone flying.

"O...o...ow...I never thought...shockwaves could hurt so much...but they do…" groggily mumbled a downed Fu under a cloud of dust.

"This one...was a lot more powerful than the one I felt back then...you alright...Fu?" asked her dark-haired teammate.

"Yeah...gotta get up...need to stop her…"

*Crunch...crunch...crunch…* At the sounds of footsteps, they hurried back onto their feet, and got into defensive stances when they saw their friend-turned-enemy...whose eyes looked even more warped than normal.

"I...never thought it would come to this...Fu...Sasuke…where I would have to fight you to the death. I...I loved the both of you so much, despite being on two ends of the spectrum. Me, a missing-nin, the both of you, loyal shinobi to Konoha. I thought our bonds meant something to you, but as it turns out...I'm the only one who treasures them, because everyone I ever loved...turns on me. Even the two of you...is that the story of my life? Where I...can't have...anyone?" The duo saw a tear run down her cheek, and they realized...she wasn't the same Anza that they remembered. The strong, calm, level-headed warrior was gone...replaced by a broken soul, who didn't know what else she could do. The snow-haired teen shook her head sharply, as if to put herself in the right mindset, and tightened her grip on the katana. "It doesn't matter...in the end, I'm through any way."

Sasuke got back up. "That's not true, Anza!"

"Yes...it is, but at least until then I can fight, and if I can fight, I'm not down for the count yet." A large surge of her shroud caught his eye, and he saw her partially draw her blade, with the chakra seemingly rushing inside as she re-sheathed it. Behind her, one of the tails slightly faded. "Sasuke...this sword...the sword that you helped give me...will be your undoing. Yours...and Fu's." She was between them faster than they could blink, hand on the hilt, ready to draw, and when she did, a terrible wind joined her slash, making a vortex that both cut their flesh and pelt them with rocks.

'S-she really _didn't_ show all she could do!' The Uchiha barely avoided a follow-up attack, only to have Anza's tails beat him silly and rip off the holster carrying his tanto while she easily overpowered Fu, toying with her as she did by not scoring any fatal blows, but if someone didn't stop the other girl soon… 'No...don't think that...everything will be just fine.' Luckily, their savior came as a bolt of lightning: Kakashi Hatake.

"Raikiri!" the jonin shouted, and his wayward student could sense just how powerful his jutsu was, so she punched Fu away and formed a Rasengan.

"No!" Kakashi thrust out his hand, and so did she. The results were...unexpected. From the point of impact, a dome of light emerged and covered a large section of the valley, obscuring the vision of nearly everyone present that didn't have a dojutsu. Inside, teacher and student did battle, and Anza tried everything to get the best of the older man, but even with all her power, his experience both as a shinobi and with the Sharingan made it possible for him to start beating her by himself now that he was being serious. In only a few seconds, the light died down, and he struck her hard enough to make her stumble and lose balance...and everything started to fall apart. Taking the opportunity, Sasuke rushed in with a Chidori and electrocuted her, giving Kiba and Akamaru time to leap in the air and start spinning like mini-cyclones. The ninken hit her first, sweeping her off of her feet and lifting her up off the ground. The Inuzuka hit her from above, bringing Anza with him back down to the rocks below, grinding her into a hole. As she scrambled back to her feet, Fu closed in and landed punch after punch on the disoriented missing-nin, but the missing-nin lost the stars in her vision and grabbed Fu's hand before another hit could land, and flipped her over her head. The merc drew her sword, letting the scabbard float in the shroud, and charged it with quite a bit of Son's power, wreathing it in green flame. "I want all of you to just disappear from my life! FOREVER!" She stabbed down at her 'sister', but Minato flashed to life, deflected the katana, and went back to Kushina with Fu in his grasp. Unable to stop, the memento of a happier time stabbed itself into the ground, sending a ring of fire over the area and leaving patches of flame where it traveled. It barely did any damage, as everyone had enough time to jump over it, and the next two challengers were the blonde twin and Choji. Using their own methods, they enlarged their hands and punched, making Anza cross her arms to block them, and before she could get ready to launch a counterattack, Mito was already on her, forcing her on the defensive. It only got worse when Choji joined in, and they easily outpaced her thanks to Mito using so much of the Kyuubi's chakra. After hitting her a multitude of times, they ended their barrage with a conjoint uppercut, making her head snap back and stumble backwards while her biju chakra dissipated. Mito and Choji split, leaving an opening for a certain Hyuga. Hinata got to Anza and started her own assault, closing chakra points as she did, causing her opponent to cry out in pain each time, and landed a forceful open-palm strike that sent the white-haired kunoichi flying. She landed on her back, barely able to move...and then her real sister appeared above her, their family jutsu in hand.

"I'm sorry Anza, but this has to be done, for your own good! Rasen-agh!" Mito was slapped out of the sky by a spectral hand...and it wasn't red.

"No...not yet...not yet...not...yet…" Black energy coiled around her as she pulled herself up, only to fall to her knees. "I'm...not...quite done yet...I...won't fall...so soon…especially...when you seemed to bet on Hinata closing...my tenketsu...how idiotic...that won't...work...on ME!" The dark aura solidified around her, and began to form a being, starting with that ghastly, plain skeleton, but this time it had four arms. Muscles, or something like it, began to manifest around it, then skin and hair...then armor and a single weapon. It's armor, like the rest of it, was pitch-black in color, and not very grand in nature. It's chestplate was very form fitting, with grey lines running up and down it, and over that it had something like a hooded cape that only reached down to where it's shoulder-blades would be, serving as its pauldrons. This also had light grey sun marks, with a single strap keeping it on the being. The gauntlets the deity wore had the same pattern as it's torso, and at the elbows had the same marks. Under the hood, it had a smooth, grey mask covering it's face, and they knew it was a mask because the the shining, white eyes seemed to be further inside. The sword it held onto was of similar shape to a claymore, but it's edge was comprised of blade-like spikes.

"Is...is that still Susanoo?" murmured Minato after taking in the full form of the guardian.

"Hehehe...this...is what happens when you train everyday like I do! I...have the power to stand up to even all of you! I won't let myself die by your hands just yet! I have nothing left to lose, I have everything to prove! I will show you that I am not someone you can just push around! I AM NOT HELPLESS!" Anza's eyes started to bleed as she forced some of Isobu's chakra through her closed tenketsu, and she raised back to her feet. "COME, AND GREET MY SUSANOO!"

"As you wish!" Mito restarted her attack by leaping high into the air, clasping her hands, and raising them above her head, a maneuver that her crimson chakra copied, and once her chakra arms enlarged to a similar size as Anza's Susanoo's, she swung down. Susanoo looked up, and raised a single hand to block, and when the two chakra's collided it sent a gust of wind in every direction, but the armored being held strong, not even gaining a crack. "What?!" Suddenly, it grew and punched the blonde with a fist bigger than her body, making her rocket to the earth and pinning her in it.

Despite the amount of danger their 'good' daughter was in, both Minato and Kushina sat back, looking at the new factor in this tedious fight. 'It's defences are much stronger than when I fought it...I can't sit on the sidelines and hope that they can take her down without me anymore. It's now far too dangerous.' "Kushina...we need to step in."

"I know. This is getting way out of hand." His wife created four chains for battle, and they dashed into the fray. 'This being seems to be made out of chakra...so all I'll need is a good grip!' When they got into fighting distance, Anza was batting away their team's attempts to hit her, always sending them flying with the immense strength behind her jutsu, so Kushina attempted to stop one of her arms movements, but her daughter caught her chain.

"So the main attractions finally decide to take a more active role in our little climax? FINE! BUT JUST TO WARN YOU, I'M NOT THAT EASY TO BE RID OF!" Anza yelled, and focused her attention on her parents. Seeing that she wasn't going to get the chain back, Kushina broke off her connection with it and created another one, and began to use them as her own arms to fight the Susanoo while Minato ducked in close, slamming Rasengan after Rasengan into the living chakra, trying to find, or create, a weak point. After a minute of being in a stalemate, Anza's fury began to boil over. "Grrr….why. Won't. You. Just. DIE?!" On the last word, she used Susanoo as a medium to create literally hundreds of spear-headed chains and forced them out, hoping to hit _someone_...but the Uzumaki formed a single sided shield, protecting her from impalement, and the Namikaze used his ungodly speed to avoid serious injury. 'T-there's...nothing I can do...if I change my attention to Minato, she can wrap me up in her chains and cut off my connection to all my chakra, and if I continue to focus on her, he'll eventually get through...no...NO! I HAVEN'T MADE THEM PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES YET! I HAVE TO LIVE JUST A BIT LONGER! THEY HAVE TO-' Her internal rant came to an end when a sharp pain pierced through her skull and her eyes. "Urgh...ugh...AAAAHHH!" She brought up her hands and applied pressure to her eye sockets, and around her, her Susanoo left her, causing her opponents to stop the offensive for the time being. 'I...I don't...understand! I've barely...used...Susanoo today!' Anza tried to look at the ground, but despite everything looking just fine, it seemed that the action caused the pain to increase, making her scream in agony against her will. 'What's...going...on?!'

Sasuke didn't understand either as he watched with his Sharingan. 'Why is so much chakra flooding the coils behind her eyes? Is she doing this? No...judging by her reaction, it's something she's not in control of. It's not her biju, either...what's wrong with her?'

Back with the family trio, the older Uzumaki couldn't help having a twinge of sadness at watching Anza suffer. 'She's in so much pain...I need to knock her out, fast.' Kushina shot a chain forward, but even though she was...preoccupied...Anza could still feel it coming.

'Not...like...this!' Using her knowledge of one-handed seals, she formed the five necessary for her next move. "Summoning Jutsu!" She punched the ground, flooding the area with smoke and carrying her up, away from being imprisoned...for now. From inside the cloud, a giant, scaled tail tail tried to smash Kushina, but she got out of the way.

"What...the hell was that?" she managed to get out...and that's when the smoke started to clear, showing just what was summoned.

"THAT'S FLUFFY?!" shouted Fu, a bit of fear in her voice. What Haruka called 'Fluffy'...only could describe one section of it. It's head and the front side of it's body was like that of a lion with a full mane of jet black fur and hellish, glowing yellow eyes, but that's where the similarities ended. It's front arms were heavy set and laced with muscle, leading to paws larger than any human. It's hind legs were similar, but the feet there were more reptilian in nature than feline. All over it, the beast had dark green scales that didn't seem to quite fit, as every motion it made created a rattling sound, but it didn't cause any discomfort to the creature. To make things worse...he was as tall the statues; about as big as the toad boss, Gamabunta.

"Hello master, it's been quite a while since you last summoned me out of the cave." 'Fluffy' spoke, getting his summoner to chuckle despite the pain she was in.

"I know, Daku, and I wish I didn't have to summon you, but as you can see...I can't see at the moment."

"Overused your Mangekyo, did you? I thought you knew it would make you blind if you used it to too much without letting your eyes rest."

"No, it's something different...something I don't understand...but I don't need my eyes to fight." She summoned the blindfold she last wore a day before the Chunin Exams, and tied it around her eyes before standing tall. "This...is Dakubisuto, the chimera! My personal summon, and key to justice!"

Daku looked down at the shinobi from his tall stature. "These...are the ones?"

"Yes! Give them hell!"

Almost immediately after those words reached his ears, his calm face became a snarl, showing his ghostly white teeth, and veins started to glow a pale shade of red on his body, mainly on his legs and paws. "How DARE you make my master cry in her sleep! I will crush you under my heels, break as many bones in your bodies as nature will allow, and teach you the meaning of AGONY!" He threw his head up and roared so loud that birds kilometers away flew off in panic. Still not done, he lowered it back down and breathed fire in the form of a funnel at his targets, causing them to scramble to get out of the way.

'Oh no...Mito's still out!' thought the Hokage, who then teleported her to his arms as he regrouped with his comrades. 'Damn, she must have been hit hard to remain out this long. Must have gotten several broken bones even with the Kyuubi's chakra protecting her...she won't be able to fight until he fixes her up...I know what I have to do now.' He approached Kushina and handed Mito to her. "I need you to hold on to Mito for a bit. I have to get even ground with Anza, so I want you to take Kakashi and the rest of them to a safe place far away."

"You're going to summon Gamabunta, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes."

Fu stepped up. "Then let me help! I can summon rather large toads too!"

He nodded. "Then get ready. We have to overwhelm them quickly, as we have no idea what her summon can do." Everyone left them, and they quickly went through the seals for the Summoning Jutsu, and in a second the large, rusty red toad and an aquamarine one with scaled-to-size katana's on it's back stood across from Daku and Anza.

"Now...isn't this a little unfair?" sarcastically asked the temporarily blind girl.

"It's called 'getting an advantage'. I know you've heard of it."

"...I swear I said that before...but do you really think you have an advantage?"

"Well, considering that there's two summons on our side and you only have one...yes."

"**Speaking of summons...Minato...what the hell have you summoned me and Gamahiro to fight?"** rumbled Gamabunta.

"_That_ would be a chimera, Bunta."

The toads eyes widened. "**A chimera? I've only heard about them in legends...I never would have thought I'd get to see one in the flesh, much less have it as my opponent."**

"Do you have anything that might help us?"

"**No. All I know is that a chimera is very rare, being the product of interspecies breeding, and that this one seems to be descended from a lion and some sort of reptile, but which, I can't tell."**

"Not very helpful, but thank you anyway."

Anza smirked. "Good to know we still have the element of surprise. Unfortunately for you, Daku won't be your only opponent. You see...I don't need to have my eyes open in order to use Susanoo..._and_ that wasn't it's strongest form."

"...you can't be serious…" His daughter jumped off of her summon's head, and nearly instantly, a giant figure as large as the three animals stood with them. Like the smaller version, most of it was covered in plate armor, with it's robes bound underneath. It's spaulders were large and rectangular, covering all the way down to it's elbows, where the vambraces and gauntlets took over. On it's chest was a simple breastplate with no grooves or lines, and on it's legs were relatively normal greaves, but at both ankles there were small wing-like protrusions. A katana even longer than it was held firmly in it's right hand, and when it swung the weapon to the right, two dark grey wings grew out of it's back. Bangs of long, grey hair framed it's face, and cascaded down to the middle of it's body. Anza was situated in a crystal on it's forehead, which itself was attached to another mask with a long nose.

"Well? What say you now?"

"...why can't anything concerning you be simple?"

"Because nothing _is_ simple when I'm involved. Daku, you take the one with two swords, I got the one with the Hokage on it."

"If that is what you wish, master, it will be done." He took a few steps to give Anza some room, and faced Gamahiro and Fu, growling. "I've heard a lot about you, Fu. Master always tried to suppress a smile whenever she recalled the times she spent with you, but for you to betray her like everyone else...I won't be keeping my claws sheathed."

The toad summoner growled back. "I haven't done anything! No one has! Don't just take Anza's word for it, Daku!"

"I don't think you understand...I will never go against my summoner, no matter what!" He pounced and clawed at the blue amphibian, who unsheathed his swords and deflected the blows, starting their battle.

With the other combatants, Anza's Susanoo grasped it's sword with both hands, and took a sideways stance, holding the blade in front of it's face, with the tip facing Gamabunta. "Can you follow me, tadpole?"

The toad narrowed his eyes. "**Underestimate me, girl, and it will be the last thing you do."**

"Bunta, I don't want you to kill her. Just...try to knock her out." voiced the Yellow Flash.

"**...I will do my best, but if worst comes to worst...I can't promise anything."**

He knew that was going to be his answer, but he couldn't stop his fists from clenching. "I...understand." With that confirmation, the toad boss too brought out his sword, and Anza charged, resulting in a clash that made the ground quake.

'**She's...strong...but I won't let a little kid beat me!'** Gamabunta pushed her away, but she was hell bent in fighting a melee, coming right back for more. He did his best to deflect the absurdly long katana, and eventually managed to get a slash on her, but his blade did nothing more than scratch the construct, revealing just how tough it was. '**This thing's harder than rock! My sword strikes won't do very well against her…but jutsus might.'** Avoiding Susanoo's next few attacks, he got a small opening, and leaped into the air, forming the tiger seal. "**Water Release: Gunshot****!"** He spewed a large glob of water down at Anza, but she jumped, flying into the air with him, dodging the attack entirely.

"Your mine now!" She flew towards the toad and tried to cut him open, but he nimbly twisted his body out of the way and planted a powerful kick on her as punishment, sending her back to the ground with a massive *thud*, while he landed safely. She simply got back up. "Or maybe not. Despite your size, your surprisingly flexible."

"**As I said...you shouldn't underestimate me.**"

"I see that now...next time you won't get so lucky." The 'Uzukage' went back to trying to carve up Gamabunta, and like before he skillfully blocked her attacks, but as they continued to come to blows, she got a feel for how he fought, and started to get small, insignificant cuts on his arms. It was the same for the summon, as he also began to get more and more strikes on her, effectively making them stuck in a perpetual loop.

"**Rgh...Minato...I'm dead even with her! I can't get any good hits, and neither can she, but I can bleed while that jutsu can't! We need a different plan!"**

"I know!" His first thought was to have Gamabunta prepare some oil so he could ignite it, but that collaboration was highly dangerous and could kill Anza if her defence wasn't really as strong as it seemed...but he couldn't think up anything else that would work, as if he used the mark on her to hit her with a Rasengan, Susanoo would protect her long enough for her to headbut him to the ground, which might knock him out of the fight like her sister. 'I'm sorry...but I have to do this, or else everyone could be in danger.' "Bunta...get the oil ready." The toad grunted in acknowledgement, and as he continued to be on the defensive he started converting his chakra into oil, letting it pool in his mouth, making his cheeks puff out, something Anza couldn't miss even without her sight.

'What is he doing? Probably don't want to let that touch me...' She broke off to get some distance, thinking that might be the safest thing to do, but that was what the duo wanted.

'**Now!'** Gamabunta spewed the thick liquid at her, and on his head Minato threw an explosive tag into it, setting it off remotely and making the torrent of oil into a wall of flame while also increasing it's speed.

'...fuck me...' The combination attack struck, creating an inferno that bathed the valley in an orange glow. Once the fire and smoke died down a bit, it turns out Anza's guardian was still standing, with it's wings in front of it like a shield. They had rather large cracks, but ultimately seemed superficial when they folded back to their normal positions. "Okay..._ow_. The force of that jutsu whipped my head back, and my neck is still sore from when Mito and Choji hit me...guess that's something else I can pay you back for."

The stress of the fight made sweat run down the sides of Minato's face. "...why am I not surprised that didn't work? And now she knows to take flight if you do that again...damn. Sorry, but you're going to have to hold her off until I can think of something else."

"**I can try, but seeing how much that did...I don't know how long I can. Hopefully Gamahiro can defeat the chimera and come help us..."**

Said toad was not having an easy time with Daku. The beast obviously sparred with Anza's humongus Susanoo and learned how to fight sword wielders, as he was skillfully dodging his strikes and countering rather easily with either breaths of fire or claw strikes. It was a wonder that his swords were still intact. 'Must be good ole' toad smithing.' reasoned Fu as she ducked under Anza's summon's tail as it missed her summon's head. 'And that goddamn tail...it's like it can be as long as he wants it to be! This is nuts!' At that moment, Daku backed off, but Hiro kept his blades up for whenever he decided to attack again.

"You...are a good opponent. Besides my master, you are the first being I have fought in more than a hundred years, and you do your race proud, toad. It's a shame we have to be on opposing sides, but my master is my master, and I'll do whatever she says. I'll honor you, though, by showing you the full extent of my skills." He moved his tail so that Gamahiro could see it, and at around the middle the scales on it opened up and pointed out, showing smaller, slimmer scales just underneath. With a flick, he fired them, and the silent kenjutsu master used his swords to block them, only to be shocked that they exploded on impact, making little shards embed into the sturdy katanas. On his paws, more scales flowered open, and that meant that his tail wasn't the only one that could launch the deadly projectiles. The lion-like animal rushed back into combat...and the toad began to lose. Daku swiped at him, which Hiro blocked, but he couldn't block the scales that were shot into his shoulder and promptly splintered, causing blood to gush out of the wound...yet he fought on. For several minutes he continued to battle the chimera despite the growing amount of red on his body and the worsening condition of his weapons, but he wouldn't stop until he couldn't move.

"Hiro! Stop! Go back, this isn't worth your life!" shouted Fu, but he shook his head. There was something he wanted to do first. Powering through the pain, he deflected a claw and before it could bounce away completely, he jammed his other sword under one of the scales and ripped it off, making Daku let loose a bloodcurdling shriek as his own lifeforce started flowing down his arm. After the pain subsided, he looked at the amphibian with nothing short of fury in those single-colored eyes, and in a second had the sword responsible in his mouth, biting it in half. He then pounced onto the toad, tearing into his wounded shoulder with his wicked teeth. Before anymore damage could be done, he finally went back home, leaving the former jinchuuriki in the air. Fortunately for her, Minato saw the large poof of smoke signalling Gamahiro's departure, and transported her to him on top of Bunta. "Thanks…"

"No problem...but Bunta might not be able to fight for much longer...everything we do, it's like her Susanoo can't feel...it just doesn't register!"

"So what do we do?! If he can't do much, how are _we_ going to win?! She can crush us like ants in that thing!"

"There's only one thing left, then…Fu, I'm sending you to Kushina. Tell her to create as many chains as she can and aim them at Anza." Before the girl could protest, she was sent away. "Okay, Bunta...just a little bit more."

"Yeah...about that...I was just listening in on your conversation, and you just gave me a great idea, Minato." his daughter said, and Susanoo's left hand started to glow. In a blink of an eye, chains wrapped around Gamabunta's sword and disarmed him. Calling upon Chomei's chakra, she put on a burst of speed, and the missing-nin impaled the wort-covered summon in the left shoulder, and lifted him up off of the ground as more chains slithered out of the katana, binding his movements. "See? See what happens when you wake the giant? You've made me _suffer_ for so long...but now...now I'm doing damage...to you...but I want to do so much more. I want _chaos_...and for this entire world to see what I've done...and to do that...all I have to do is kill you. I want to be remembered until the end of time as the one who killed the Fourth Hokage...and I think making your own summon crush you and everyone you love is a good way to do that." She tossed Gamabunta off the weapon to where the rest of the retrieval team was at...and there was nothing the toad could do. He had no access to his chakra, so he couldn't teleport back to Mount Myoboku.

'No! I have to send all back to Konoha, before Bunta crushes them!' As he prepared to do that...he spotted a light down there. A bright, orange light...and it wasn't Kushina's chains.

**-_a few minutes earlier, Mito's mindscape_-**

"How much longer, fuzzball?! I need to get back out there! I need to help them!" yelled the blonde in front of the bars of Kurama's 'prison'.

"**Well, if you didn't decide to try and take on her ****Susanoo** **by yourself without even knowing how strong it was, we wouldn't even be in this damn mess!"** roared back the Kyuubi, who sighed after the outburst. "**Look, I'm doing all I can. That punch cracked all your ribs, a portion of your skull, and tweaked your spine a bit. I've had to divert all of my power to heal them, and I'm getting close to completion, but you're going to have to sit tight just a bit longer."**

"But they may not have that much time! Who knows what Anza can do now!"

"**I understand, but there's nothing we can do until you're all healed up! You're just going to have to let your parents and comrades take care of the problem for awhile. Remember, Anza is not just **_**your **_**responsibility, it's everyone's that came to this valley today, so don't think you are the only one who has to fight her."**

Asura nodded from his spot next to his 'brother'. "He's right, Mito. All your friends decided to come here so they could get their friend back, so you have to trust that they can hold her off while you get better. They also have Kakashi, Kushina, and Minato with them, they'll be fine."

She sighed. "I know...but I just don't like being so..._useless_."

"Believe me, I know how you feel…" He closed his eyes, and went back to watching what was going on outside the mindscape...only for him to shoot up to his feet after a minute. "No...crap...this isn't good." He bounded over to his reincarnation and stuck out his hand, as if he was trying to give her something. "Come on...come on...come on! Damn it, it doesn't work with you! Must be because I'm not my father...damn it!"

"What are you trying to do? What's going on out there?!"

"I was trying to give you access to my Six Paths Senjutsu, but it doesn't work! Which...might be a good thing as you don't know how to use senjutsu yet...and what's happening is that there's a _giant toad coming straight at us_!"

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me! Your mother was just about to create some chains to hopefully stop it, but I don't know if she can without creating a barrier! And that would mean it would go splat, along with your father! We're sitting ducks!"

"**No...we're not! I just remembered something! Kit, tear the seal off!"**

"Why? What would that do?"

"**It doesn't matter, just DO IT! DO IT NOW!"** Hearing the urgency in his voice, she did, and the iron gates vanished. "**Great! Now that all of my power is free for you to use, I can heal the final injuries in a second! I'm going to catch that tadpole, you prepare for battle!"** Mito nodded, and woke herself up just in time to see a giant, translucent arms form out of the seal on her stomach, catching Gamabunta and moving him to the ground safely.

"What the...Mito?! What the hell was that?! And why are you orange?!" asked Sasuke, and confused by his statement, she looked at her body, and he was right. Her entire body was glowing orange, and her seal was seemingly stuck on her clothes. She also noted that there was a line running down her chest that parted at her stomach, but she didn't have a lot of time to look at herself.

"I don't know Sasuke, it must be because I broke the seal…" She got back up, and looked at the black tower that was controlled by her sister. "Everyone, stay down here. I'm going to take care of this...once and for all."

"With how your chakra is now...I bet you can. Go get her. End this madness." Again, she nodded, and began taking steps forward. As she did, her cloak parted down the middle, opened up and lengthened into a jacket similar to the one Anza was wearing, with three magatama on each side of the collar. On her cheeks, thick, black lines formed in the shape of whiskers, and the swirl on her gut became a complete circle, with an orange line distinguishing it from the rest of her body. Almost on instinct, she summoned an avatar to fight Anza: a translucent, yellow-orange version of Kurama that matched Susanoo in size.

"So...you've done it, Mito...you've become a perfect jinchuuriki."

Mito didn't answer...her biju did through the shroud. "**Yes. We almost beat you back near the Land of Sound, and that was with only eight of my tails. Now that she can use all nine...there's no way you can beat us."**

"I guess we'll see about that." She took the same stance as earlier, and called upon all of her biju, quickly powering up to max, which was reflected on the Mangekyo jutsu as changing to a bloody shade of red before getting covered in an armor of lava and fire. "Daku, I order you to stay out of this. This...is my fight. _Our_ fight." The chimera nodded, and backed away.

"**Mito...I have to tell you something before we fight her...we only have about five minutes before you'll revert back to the normal chakra mode, and you'll lose the strength required to fight something this size. We simply don't have the connection needed to maintain ****Tailed Beast Mode****."**

"Five minutes will be more than enough." Anza took the first move and tried to poke holes into Mito, only to be foiled when the other jinchuuriki dodged them all. After the orange kunoichi did that, she made her tails slam into her twin, but that was blocked by a scolding hot wing...and the blonde noticed it wasn't nearly as hot as when she last fought her Lava Release Chakra Mode. 'This power...it gives me the ability to tough out her heat! That means I can actually fight her!' Getting in close, she formed a fist and punched at where Anza was at, but Susanoo blocked with it's incredibly sturdy weapon before hitting her in the face, making her skid back and form deep trenches. Grasping with the katana with both hands, it raised it above it's head and swung down, the length and speed almost guaranteeing that it would hit, so she brought up her arms to block it, and as soon as she did the merc was on her, raining down slash after slash. Luckily, her tails easily deflected them, and something clicked in Anza's mind.

'My sword is too long for this kind of close-quarters combat...she could eventually exploit the excess length by using those tails to knock me off balance...I simply can't have that.' Without warning, the katana disappeared, leaving the two feuding siblings in a white-knuckled brawl. After both tanked a few hits to see what each other could do, Anza showed her experience of being able to read her opponents by expertly changing her stances to bat away a few strikes, landing a few of her own, and kneeing the fox avatar in the muzzle. This only served to make her sister more determined. Morphing her nine tails into arms, she launched a merciless eleven-handed assault that despite Anza's attempts to lessen the damage on Susanoo, it gained a few cracks under all that molten rock. 'She's...so strong now...but I can't give up! There's still a chance that I can win!' She focused as much biju chakra as she could into her hands and feet and powered through the onslaught, hit Mito a couple times before landing a high kick on her chin, then kicking her in the chest hard enough to make her roll on the ground for a second before getting up.

"**Kit! Let me in on the action for a minute!"** voiced Kurama, and she did. Acting through the shroud, he opened his mouth, and rapidly started to gather chakra, forming a purple ball. "**Bijudama****!"** He fired, and knowing how devastating that technique was, Anza brought back out her sword and charged every inch of it with chakra. As it reached her enough to where she could hit it, she made a vertical slash, cutting the jutsu in half and making it pass by her harmlessly, both parts exploding in the water behind her. She didn't get time to think out her next move, though, as the Kyuubi kept on firing Bijudama's, so she kept cutting through them, making the legendary battleground gain even more scars.

"Did you really think I'd let those hit me?! How delusional! I know how exactly those things work!"

"**Then how about this?!"** Anza looked up, and saw the largest Bijudama she'd ever seen above Kurama, it being about the size of the biju and her Susanoo.

"...shit!" Diverting her chakra off of the blade, she began to form her own Bijudama with the chakras of the Sanbi, Yonbi, and the Nanabi. In the end, it wasn't as large, but it was half the size of her construct, so it would have to do. "Bijudama!" They fired their attacks, and when they collided, they set each other off with a deafening *BANG*, sending water sky high and buffeting the area in high-speed winds. In the chaos, the powerful teens rushed each other, each trying to hit the other, but they ended up catching each other's punches and slamming their construct's head's together in another power struggle. 'And here we are again...in the fated battle between us that was predetermined the moment I ran from Konoha...in a way, I've made history repeat. I'm the Madara to your Hashirama...and this probably going to end in the worst way...with me dead at your feet, because I...I don't want to go back...and that hurts me to say. Konoha was...my home for nine years...and yet it and everyone there has caused me so much pain...maybe...it never had to be this way? Maybe if I hadn't revealed myself, I could have lived in a happy lie...where I could stand with you instead of against you...or maybe, if I never came back, and I just wandered the world with no sense of direction...but neither of those happened, did they?' Anza moved first, using the hands on her wings to grab Mito's head and push her away so she could land a hit. 'I didn't like living like that, and I was tired of being known as Menma...of being known as someone I wasn't. I had to pretend to not know anyone, and watch from afar...until you and Sasuke pushed your way back into my life. I thought...there was a chance I could forget all my suffering, and become the person I once was...but it was never meant to be. I...am...empty, always losing the things that have ever mattered to me...'

They went back to their sibling grudge match, the force of their clashes making colossal waves crash against the shore and the statues, which have somehow remained intact from the battle that was taking place not too far from them. As Mito evaded a fist and managed to plant one in Susanoo's chest, the lava momentarily started to fade, only to come back as Anza lifted into the air, taking a giant leap back, summoned the katana again, and sent out arcs of fire with her wide slashes. 'Anza…you're running low on chakra, aren't you? You've been fighting so many people at once for so long, using attacks that would hit everyone around you at the expense of your energy...that Susanoo must also drain a fortune...you know that if you run out of chakra you'll die, right? What am I saying...of course you do...you simply hate us that much. You'd die just to spite us one final time...and that just pisses me off, because I don't want you dead! I want you alive! I want you to come back and see Konoha again! I want to see you smile again, like when we were a team! When you were back with us, before everything fell apart! And I won't stop until I make those things happen!' She got down on all fours and started running towards the blasts, weaving between them before they could do substantial damage. When she got into striking distance of her sister, she pounced, ramming into her stomach and making Susanoo fall onto it's back. Changing her tails into hands again, she made them hold down all the major things that could fight back while she held down the torso with the avatar: the arms, the wings, the legs, and the sword just in case. "No more, Anza! I'm not going to let you stay steeped in your own anger! I'm going to free you of your hate! I'm going to save you, whether you like it or not!" The blonde brought up her fist and pelted the dark being with blows, and eventually the sound of cracking resounded from it, meaning that she was getting closer to her goal. So she sped up, and ended her barrage with a punch that completely broke Susanoo's head, sending Anza down into the dark below. Both it and the manifestation of Kurama around Mito vanished, leaving her panting on the water's surface.

"MASTER!" Daku dove after Anza, disturbing the melancholic peace that just settled in the area. The rest of the team joined Mito on the lake, with Fu enveloping her in a bone crushing hug.

"You did it! You beat her!"

"Heh...yeah...I did…"

She let her go. "So...where is she? Minato or Kushina have to put a paralyzes seal on her so that we can go home without any struggle."

"Uh...she went...under…"

"...WHAT?! And she isn't back up yet?! After Daku JUST went down after her?!"

"No…oh no...no no no…" She turned to her father. "Dad! Can you feel her?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, I can. She still has quite of bit of chakra left, but I don't think that she can fight any of-" He suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened. "I...it just disappeared…"

"What do you mean it 'just disappeared'?!"

"It's exactly what it sounds like! Daku's is gone, too!"

Sasuke put a hand on his chin. "That means she might have went back to her cave...or…"

"NO! She can't have drowned! She...she can't die before we've even had the chance to reconcile with her!" shouted a defiant Mito, who turned to where she approximately thought she punched Anza, and prepared to jump in after her and the giant animal...and then she saw the bubbles. "Oh thank god...she's okay...she's coming back up…"

Kushina looked at Minato. "And you can't feel her at all? Do you think…?"

"I don't know...but I think we're about to find out." They watched the bubbles rise more frequently, and in a sudden shift, a blur shot out of the water. It flew around in a circle around them for a minute before finally moving to a spot in front of them, back turned, and gently landed onto the lake, barely disturbing it. Of course, it was Anza, but she was...a little different. From what they could see, the ends of her long hair were a little spikier than normal, and she had wings different than the ones she usually used. These were formed by her chakra chains, with the 'membrane' that would allow her to fly seemingly being made out of the same barrier that Kushina could create, and they were shaped like two halves of the same star.

"Let me guess...all of you thought I was done? Sorry...that just isn't who I am." she said, and proceeded to tear her sleeves off, showing the pristine, white fur covering her arms. "I don't feel my chakra going haywire around my eyes anymore...good, I'd rather fight without even the slightest impediment. Not that it was much of an impediment in the first place." Anza reached up, untied the band, and let it fall to the surface. She turned to the rest of them, showing her heavily scaled face, and opened her eyes...her ghastly, glowing, pale yellow eyes.

"No...Anza...you didn't...do you realize how dangerous that training is?!"

"So you know what this is? Why am I not surprised…Daku did say that only people with strong bodies can learn it, and if you don't have that, then no one does."

"You could have turned to stone!"

"Oh, I know...which is one of the reasons why I never completed it."

"Then...how are you in Sage Mode?!"

"It's not me who's in it."

"You mean...you merged with Daku? That's why he disappeared from my normal senses?"

She nodded. "That's right. I'm still learning how to access it by myself, but before I could figure it out...well...you know, _this_ kinda came up."

"Then you're in a form even weaker than the one sensei uses...an incomplete incompletion, essentially."

Anza shrugged. "What does it matter? It allows me to fight just a bit longer, so I have no qualms with it. Though...Daku's working overtime to make sure none of the deadly consequences happen to me while he's with me, so _that_ I have some problems with...anyway, are we going to get this finale underway, or are we just going to sit here and talk the rest of the day away like little girls?" All of her classmates took a step towards her, but their superiors blocked them from going any farther.

"Kakashi-sensei! Mom, dad! Let me at her! I can beat her again!"

Kushina shook her head at Mito's protests. "No. We're not going to let you fight her by yourself anymore. It's time me and your father gave a good old fashioned ass-kicking to your rebellious sister. Kakashi, make sure none of them try to join us in this fight."

"I'll do that, just make sure you end this."

"Thank you." The parents of the raging teen took up positions across from Anza. "Are you ready, Minato?"

"Ready to fight our daughter? No, not really...but this has to be done if we want to save her from the road she's going down."

Anza sneered. "Oh, so NOW you want to save me?! FUCK YOU. Fuck you and everyone you love! You made me believe that you loved me, then you left me out there for the wolves to eat! WHO DOES THAT TO THEIR KIDS?! Both of you are the worst humanity has to offer! Even Madara is a saint by comparison! Heartless, heartless, HEARTLESS!"

The redhead looked down at the water. "We know...we are horrible parents for not locating you, and you have a right to be angry with us...but that won't stop us from hoping that we can be a whole family again."

The jinchuuriki took a deep breath to calm down, only to be a futile effort when it just made her angrier. "I wanted a family...even after being betrayed by the one I was a part of and loved, I still wanted one...so I took Fu as my sister, only for her to betray me later too...when I came back, Kakashi, Sasuke, Mito...they were still my siblings, and they betrayed me...I took Haruka, hoping I could make sure that she couldn't do the same...and then you took her captive, along with the people I started to consider as part of my 'family'...the only ones I have left are Isobu, Son Goku, Chomei, Haku, and Daku. Don't you see? I will never be part of your family again...as you are responsible for all of my anguish. So come...meet the villain you created." Seeing no other option, the two high-ranking shinobi charged their daughter, who barely blocked their conjoint forearm strike.

"You're making a mistake, Anza! Stop this, or else we'll have no choice but to fight you at full strength!" warned her father.

"No...I'm not." She pushed them off and didn't waste anytime in going to taijutsu, and changing her wings back to weapons. Despite the skill she had, all she could see was her parents blocking and avoiding her punches, and after a few seconds of seeing if she changed up her style, they made their move, battering Anza around the lake rather easily. 'They are making me look like a fool! I've got to do something!' Using the Hiraishin, she broke off contact with Minato and Kushina and flew up, forming half of the tiger seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" She spat out a stream of senjutsu-enhanced fire, and flew around trying to hit her parent's, but the Uzumaki erected a shield to let the flames pass by safely. 'Of course she was going to do that, why would I think I had a chance at hitting them? Even if I did...I don't have much energy left. Susanoo...drained practically all the biju chakra I had. I can't go on for much longer…' Suddenly, the Hokage appeared above her and hit her over the head, sending her back down to ground level. Before she could go back under though, her mother wrapped a chain around her waist and pulled her in, giving her a strong punch to the face that sent her spinning onto the water. She managed to right herself by spreading her wings as wide as they could go, and she rocketed towards the one responsible for her impromptu flight, and she managed to land a hit on her face, but Kushina was a lot more durable than she looked, taking it without budging a bit, and kneed her daughter in the gut, forcing some blood out. The redhead rained down some long over due punishment, and Minato got in it as well, ending with them kicking Anza away. Once she fell flat onto the water, she struggled to get up from all the blows she's taken, but she did, to her family's disappointment. 'I...I can't...fight anymore...I'm..done for...' "_(Huff)_ I can see...the look in your eyes...the feelings you won't express. Why...don't you just come right out and say it?"

"Say what, Anza?" asked Kushina.

"That you hate me...that I'm not the daughter you wanted...that you want me dead and gone. T-tell me the truth...for once...please…"

Minato shook his head. "I'm sorry...we can't do that...as that's not the truth. We can't hate you, as we love you, and even though you didn't turn out like we thought you would, that's fine. We'd rather get to know the present you over mourning over your death again, and all we want...is for you to come back to us." He held out his hand, and his wife mirrored the action. "Please...come back. Everyone's waiting for you."

"...so you can't even do that, huh? You have to tell me sweet nothings even as you hold a knife to my throat. Fine…" They saw tears run down her face, and she cupped her hands. Inside, a Rasengan formed...and grew...and grew...and grew until it was as large as her torso. Her fur, scales, and glowing eyes vanished, replaced by her normal look. "I'm not going to wait for an execution, or be forced to my knees so you can strap chains to my body. If I'm going to die...it'll be on my own terms." She blinked to their sides, and on instinct the blonde formed his own to counter hers, creating a storm around them.

"No! Please, don't do this!"

"I don't care anymore! Even if I were to survive, there would be nothing I could do to save them! So I'm taking you with me! We'll be bunkmates in hell for all eternity!"

Struggling to stand against her large jutsu, he created another Rasengan in his other hand and combined it with his first one...but hers didn't move. 'She...she put all her chakra into this attack! It's...simply too powerful compared to my own! I guess I have no choice, then!' Calling on his training on in the toad's home, his eyes changed shape to that of a toads, and an orange pigment surrounded them. "I'm sorry for this! Sage Art: Rasengan!" He poured senjutsu chakra into his jutsu, empowering it enough to break through the standstill. Seeing the attack barreling toward her, her left arm moved on it's own to desperately try to protect her...but it didn't stop the technique.

"GRAAAAAH!" Anza screamed as it wrenched her arm in every direction and carrying her away to the statue of Madara. As a last act, she expelled her summon out of her body, and he landed in the water, unconscious from the ordeal, while she created a small hole in the stone, kicking up dust.

"...it's over...it's finally over…" he mumbled, and soon everyone came up to where he and his wife were.

"Are you sure, dad? We thought that twice, and she got back up from both…" said Mito, and he nodded.

"Yeah...she doesn't have anything left in her anym-"

"G-give t-them...back...give m-me back...my l-little girl…" The team looked at the cloud of dust, and saw Anza stumble out of it...with her left arm twisted at an odd angle, and bleeding profusely from cuts gained from the Rasengan. She moved her other arm up, as if to reach out for them. "I...I...want her...by my...side…" Not even a second after, she fell face first into the water.

"ANZA!" They all shouted, and they ran to her. Her twin was the one to flip her back over to the right side side so she wouldn't drown, and held her up so she wouldn't sink. Seeing that Anza's eyes were closed, she smacked her a few times to try to wake her up.

"No...come on, stay awake...d-don't pretend like you're dying!"

A weak laugh escaped from the missing-nin. "Tell that...to my c...chakra...and my arm...I won't...last much longer...heh, who...would have thought...I would die in...your arms, of all...people…"

"You're not dying!"

"Lie to yourself...all you want…" Anza turned to look at her, with half-closed eyes. "I want...you to know...all of you, to know...I never...wanted to fight any of you...I could have stayed...content for the rest of my...life...but you forced...my hand…"

"We never did anything to your students! Please, you have to believe us!"

"And...I want that to be true...but you all have hurt me...so...much...I can't trust...a word you say. All any of you...ever say...are all lies."

Mito felt her eyes starting to water. "Then...then we tortured them! Sicked Ibiki on them!" She saw her sister slowly close her violet orbs, and she went limp in her hands. "No...no! You...you can't leave us again…" She turned to the Yamanaka. "You learned how to be a medic, right? Please, tell me there's something you can do to save her!"

"I-I'll try!" Ino dropped down, moved her hands to the broken arm, and began healing it. After a minute, the bleeding slowed to a trickle...but so did Anza's breathing. "All I can do is heal her arm...I...can't stop her from dying."

"Can't you just place your chakra in her?!"

"I don't have enough to make a difference...maybe if you or your parent's did, but everything's shutting down..._fast_. I don't think their chakra would be able to assimilate quick enough…"

Now the tears started to fall. "No...after all that...there's...nothing we can do...damn it...damn it…DAMN IT!"

Inside her seal, the newly freed Kurama and Asura could feel her anguish. "If only I could use my powers...I could heal Anza, and this wouldn't be happening…" Through his link to Mito, he looked at his reincarnation's sibling...and stopped on the whiskers. "Wait...waitwaitwait...KURAMA! I have an idea!"

"**What is it?"**

"Look at her! She has a connection to you thanks to her mother, and you have full control over your chakra now! You might be able to do something!"

The fox's eyes widened. "**By our holy father...you might be on to something!"** Forcing his chakra out, Mito's stomach turned orange, and he formed a head and hand out of the spot.

"F-fuzzball? What are you doing?" she asked.

"**Trying to save Anza!"** He touched said unconscious girl, and gave her a tail of his power. For a minute, a red cloak similar to the one Mito used formed around Anza, and her whiskers got thicker, before the cloak seemingly was absorbed into her body. When that happened, the bleeding on her arm stopped altogether, and her breathing became less labored.

"H-her chakra's back! She's going to live!" shouted Sasuke, and the tears of sadness became tears of joy.

"She's going to live…" she echoed, staring at the sleeping teen's face.

Next to them, Minato sighed in relief. "Thank god...I was worried that she'd be gone forever…"

"Me too...can take her home now?" asked Kushina, getting him to nod.

"Yeah...let's all go home."


	56. Chapter 56

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 56**

"And here we are again...standing in front of a hospital room with Anza unconscious in it after she tried to kill us…" said Minato with pretty much everyone that lived in his house plus Kakashi standing with him.

"Is...this going to the norm for us?" sadly murmured Kushina.

"...I don't know anymore...but I'm going to do my damndest to make sure this never happens again. I'm sick of seeing her so hurt and broken...of seeing her so close to death because of her own attacks. Luckily...we didn't see her die out there. I owe the Kyuubi a lot for doing that."

'Yeah...thanks, fuzzball. If you hadn't done that, we'd be at another funeral...and this time, we'd be burying a body.' mentally said Mito.

"**Don't thank me, thank Asura. He was the one who pointed out the potential significance of her whisker marks, I only acted on it."**

'That reminds me...how are they so important?'

"**Simple. They signify a connection to me that was formed a few months after the both of you were conceived. The womb is just behind where my seal on Kushina was, so every minute you were in there you were being exposed to some of my chakra. On Anza, that was reflected as those whisker marks and possibly the discoloration of her skin and hair, while you had no such defining features. Instead, you got slightly increased speed in comparison to her, at least that's what I noticed from your memories. Makes sense?"**

'I think so...and before I go, since you said it...thank you, Asura.'

Her ancestor waved her off. "No problem."

Back with the outside world, the doctor inside the room came out, and turned to face the family. "This is the second time you brought Anza to me before I could go take a trip outside of Konoha…" mumbled the Sannin.

"Sorry...but she needed the best care, and that's what you provide. I know you've seen her arm." said the Hokage, getting Tsunade to sigh.

"Yes, I have. Diagnostics say that it has multiple fractures, is completely broken in three places, and there are many torn muscles. It...will take some time before just that is healed, even with me here. I also noticed that it was...cold, and that there were a large amount of cuts, so I authorized a blood transfusion using a bit we have from Mito. Hopefully, when everything is said and done, there will be no problems with it."

He bowed his head. "You've done so much for us, Tsunade...I can't thank you enough. And what about Haku? Do you happen to know his status after we dropped them off?"

"Not at the moment, no. All I remember is that I saw him being taken to...somewhere...before I had to see the extent of the damage on your daughter. You'd have to track him down at the desk, but you might want to wait until tomorrow. He's probably still out from whatever caused him to go unconscious."

"We'll do that. Will...will Anza be able to have visitors tomorrow, as well?"

She gave a light shrug. "If you want to look at and talk to a sleeping person in what seems to be a coma, yes, she can have visitors."

Minato frowned. "Another one? That can't be good...alright, we'll stop bothering you and let you work."

"Thank you. I'll let you know if and when anything changes, like last time." The Sannin went back in, and they saw her start healing the broken arm before turning to leave.

"Don't worry sensei, Kushina, Anza will pull through. She's a tough girl, a little chakra deprivation and a injured arm won't keep her down for long." tried the silver haired cyclops, getting the parents to sigh.

"That's not what we're worried about, Kakashi. If a fall of at least sixty-feet into a raging river couldn't kill her, then now that she has chakra she has no chance of death. What we're worried about is after." said the redhead.

"I know...I'm just...trying to find a silver lining in all of this."

"There is. We have a chance to make things right now."

"But what if...that's not possible?" His valid question got the woman to remain silent as they walked through the halls...until they heard the fastest steps they ever heard in the hospital, and a blur of black practically slammed into one of the doors. "Wait...isn't that Haruka?"

"Not here!" The Uchiha moved to the next one. "Not here! C'mon, where is she?!" Two more blurs in the shades of her fellow apprentices ran up to her, and held her by the arms.

"Slow down for a second, Haruka!" yelled Noboru.

"No! I have to find mom!" She pulled herself free rather easily, and kept going down the line of doors, jumping up to the windows to look inside. "No...no...no...no! She has to be here _somewhere_, this is the last floor, dang it!" Akira and his best friend did the same thing again, and understanding that they weren't going away, simply dragged them along, with no signs of stopping. As they inched closer to the family, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Alright, that's enough." He approached them, and grabbed the little girl by the collar...big mistake.

"Grr...ok, that's it! Let me go!" Like last time, she broke free, and socked him in the stomach, making him double over. She blinked at the downed boy for a few seconds before realization and horror spread across her face. "Oh! I'm so...so sorry, Sasuke! I...I didn't mean to hit you! I thought you were a doctor or another nurse!"

Sasuke, stood back up, wincing a bit from the blow. "It's fine, you didn't really hurt me, only caught me off guard, but next time look before you punch."

"Okay…" Seeing that she wasn't putting up a fight anymore, the duo let go of her.

"Phew! I thought she'd _never_ stop until she busted down the door to whatever room sensei is in!" said the darker-haired one as the rest of the group came up to them.

"How did you guys know Anza was in the hospital? It's only been an hour since we came back, and we haven't left this place yet." asked Minato.

"Are you kidding? Her return is breaking news! The people we passed on the streets are gossiping about it! Everyone knows!"

The blonde pinched his nose. "Great...that means that we're going to be swarmed by reporters soon...we need to get back to the house, quickly."

"Wait! I haven't seen mom yet!" exclaimed Haruka, and seeing the worry in her eyes, Minato put a hand on her head.

"I know you want to see if she's okay, but right now no one is allowed into her room. Her arm is really messed up, and Tsunade is doing her best to fix her. If you were to barge in right now, all you'd do is distract her from her job. You want Anza to be all healed up as quickly as possible, don't you?"

"Yes...but...she needs me…"

"I don't doubt that, but you're going to have to be patient until tomorrow, okay? Can you do that for me?"

The small kunoichi-in-training slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Okay grandpa...I will…but as soon as I learn when the visiting hours are, nothing is going to stop me from getting here!"

He smiled. "I knew that was going to be your answer. Well, come on then. Our business here today is done." The mercs nodded, and he teleported them all back to the house, completely avoiding any reporters that could be outside the hospital.

**-_the next day_-**

When Fu started to stir in her bright green bed, she expected to hear the alarm clock to go off at any moment, as on rather important days, her next-door neighbor had a habit of sneaking in and setting it, even after she traumatized him with the rapid increase of hot water while he was still in the shower. But it never happened, and that woke her up just as well. 'Okay, something's wrong. When Anza was being treated last time, he made sure to wake me up before he got in the shower. That means I have to go check on him…' She reluctantly threw the covers off and stood up, stretched a little bit to get the rigidity out of her back, and left the bedroom in her pajamas. Taking a right, she was at Sasuke's closed door in no time. 'Closed? Fifty-fifty chance that he's awake, then...nah, he's always awake by this time. Hasn't missed a single day except for that one time he got sick...actually, nevermind, he worked through that too...okay, back to what I was doing.' The teenage genin opened the door just a crack, and she spotted the Uchiha sitting up on the bed, head in his hands. "Heeeey…"

"Hey Fu. What are you doing in here?"

She took that as an invitation to come in, and sat with him on his bed. "Weeelll...I'm just so used to you waking me up when things like Anza being in the hospital happen that I expected you to do the same thing today, but nope. So I wanted to see what you were doing...and it seems like you're entering depression."

He chuckled. "No, not yet. Just got caught up in thinking."

"About what?"

"Anza's future."

"What are you talking about? She's back home, where she belongs! Everything's on the up and up now! You don't need to think about that!"

"On the contrary, I think I do...yesterday, all of Konoha learned that she was back, and _that_ was after she blew up a part of the Academy _and_ took two of our own shinobi hostage. Sure, she returned them as soon as we showed up, but the people...are _not_ going to be happy about that one bit. Then take in account that she's tried to kill Minato, the goddamn _Hokage_, twice, her mother, all of her friends, and even you once, and successfully killed an Anbu in cold blood before fleeing the village. That last one alone is technically a life sentence. Everything...isn't looking good for her, at least in the sense of what the people might want."

"When you put it like that...yeah, it doesn't…" She moved her hand to be on top of his. "...but we'll clear that bridge when we get there. That's all we can do."

The raven-haired boy sighed. "Yeah...I guess you're right. We've got to worry about her getting out of that coma first. Shall we go downstairs, then?"

"Yes, I need some breakfast. Hey, do you think-"

"No, I'm not going to cook you anything. Not unless Kushina asks me to help her prepare something for _everyone_."

"...one day I _will_ get you to do that."

"Oh? How?"

"I have a few ideas…"

Sasuke shook his head as he stood up, with a smirk on his face. "Well, good luck with that." He left his room, and the girl trailed after him.

**-_later_-**

"So...Haku's in there, too? What did _he_ do to end up in the hospital? He's usually the one who avoids most injuries." asked Akira while everyone was waiting for Sasuke to finish up his shower.

"Chakra exhaustion. He did a jutsu with Anza called...Ragnarok, I think, and it was _huge_. If I hadn't put up a shield, we'd all be dead." answered Kushina.

"Ragnarok? I...have no idea what that is, but I do remember her saying that she was always working around the clock trying to figure out new collaborations with him, so it must be one of them."

Haruka nodded. "It is, one of the first ones they created together, in fact. I wasn't allowed to see how it worked though, only the aftermath...she said it was too dangerous for anyone to be near it when they cast it, even Fluffy. It must have been awesome to see…"

"It was...interesting...to say the least. Who knew lava could freeze and become thousands of tiny, deadly blades?" mumbled Mito.

"Aw man...I want to see that…"

"No...you don't."

"I mean from a safe distance, of course. I'm not dumb! I know that nearly all their combos are lethal!" A dried and dressed Sasuke entered the living room, ending all current conversations.

"Ahh...nothing like a good shower to get rid of the stress of yesterday...we ready to go?"

"I believe so." said the tachi-wielder, and everyone got up...except for the eldest Uzumaki.

"Mom? Aren't you coming with?" asked Mito, getting Kushina to shake her head.

"No, I decided to just go there later when Minato gets out of work. Don't want him to be alone while he sees Anza so...out of it, you know?"

"Oh. I...guess we'll see you when we get back, then."

She put on a smile. "Sounds good." The group of six took their leave, and settled on a brisk pace on their way to the hospital. Haku and Anza weren't going anywhere fast.

"I just realized something...you never told us if you knew _why_ sensei went absolutely bonkers and decided to fight anyone that showed up at the valley." said Noboru.

"That would be because we don't truly understand it either. She told us, but it...just doesn't make sense with everything we know about her…" said Mito.

"Well, can you tell _us_?"

"In a bit. We're going to see Haku, he might be able to clear things up on their side."

He huffed, but relented. "Fine…" After a few minutes, they made it to the surprisingly clear entrance and made their way inside, stopping at the desk.

"Can I help you?" asked the man sitting on the other side.

The blonde stepped up. "Yes. We would like to know what room a patient is staying in so we could go see them. They just checked in yesterday, you see."

"Do you have a name?"

"Uh...his name would be Haku. He's a man, but looks and sounds like a woman."

The receptionist got to work on his computer, and lightly nodded after a while. "Ah, yes, Haku. He's currently staying in room 106, on this floor. Take the hallway to your right, and you'll find him eventually."

She smiled. "Thank you." Mito led them through the large building, and once they found the right door, she opened it, revealing a neatly covered bed with no patient on it. That would be because Haku was looking out the window, sitting on a chair that was seemingly moved to it's new position. "Hello Haku."

He didn't change his gaze to look at her. "Hello Mito. I figured at least one of your team were going to visit me, but I didn't think it would be so soon."

She glanced at the three apprentices for a second before taking a step inside. "Nice view?"

"No, I'm just watching the people go by. It's a little game I like to play, trying to figure out somebody by only how they look and how they walk."

"Ah. So...how's your stay been so far?"

"Quite good. The staff are...pleasent, and the care is exceptional despite me being an illegal mercenary-nin that has just tried to kill the Hokage. You would think that someone would take it upon themselves to poison me in my sleep, but obviously that never happened. Maybe you're village is too lax when it comes to people like me?"

"No, that's just how the people here are. They heal the patients, not kill them. That duty falls onto the higher ups."

"I see...well, I should stop being rude and turn around. I'm sure you didn't come here for idle chit-chat." He got up, and as he turned to spin the chair around, he spotted his three teammates. "Haruka? Noboru? Akira? Is that you?"

The tiny ball of energy tackled him, giving him a hug. "Yes! It's us! Why wouldn't it be?"

"Hm...so things aren't what they seem...but I'm glad to see that all of you are okay." He hugged her back. "Anza and I were worried."

"Worried about what?" asked the flame-colored one.

"Everything. You see...we heard that all of you were being held up in prison."

The little Uchiha let go of him, and all three of them went wide-eyed. "What?!"

"It's true. Your teacher...did not take that well. Remember what I told you before we took that job in the Land of Sound? Where we first met these people?"

Akira nodded. "Yeah...I think so...didn't you say that if anything were to happen to Haruka, it wouldn't be good?"

"Yes. I don't think you need my help in finding out the rest." He turned to three Konoha shinobi. "Before you ask me the question I think you're going to ask me, answer one of mine first: was Daku summoned?"

"The chimera? Yeah. Almost killed Gamahiro before he could go back home." said Fu, getting him to nod.

"Sounds like him...and after beating Anza, as I know you did, what happened to him?"

"Minato sent him to the toads to keep an eye on him."

He sighed. "Good, at least he's not dead...alright, I'm done. Ask me what you will."

"Okay...well, the main reason we're here is because of that little rumor you heard, and we want to find out the truth behind it. Not one of our shinobi should have said that they were locked up, because they never were, so who told you such a blatant lie, and why would Anza believe it?" asked Mito.

"Truth be told...I don't know either. After we cleared a bandit camp, he showed up as we were walking away."

"So who's 'he'?"

"...someone who shouldn't...no, _can't_...be alive...Madara Uchiha."

"No...you're lying…" said Sasuke, and Haku shook his head.

"That's what he called himself. We didn't get anytime to see if he was being truthful, however, as then a second, dual-colored man joined him, and upon seeing him, Anza got ready to defend herself. That never came to pass, as instead, they told her what I've told you...that the students she loved so much were suffering here at the hands of her father. At first, she didn't believe them, then the strange one did...something...and then she lost all sense of reason as she went into a rage I never saw her in before...so calm that a leaf wouldn't move off the top of her head, but I knew better...she was so far beyond anger that she couldn't feel it anymore. Then...we attacked Konoha, and you know the rest."

"Do you think she was being controlled somehow?"

He looked down. "I...don't know. She seemed to be the same as always, but…she had this look in her eyes that said everything was about to change. For better or worse, I don't know, but the current situation points to the latter." The ice user sighed, and he looked back at their faces. "If I'm not mistaken, I don't think there's anything more to discuss. If you want to know more about those men, you'd have to get it out of Anza."

"Not the easiest thing to do when she hates our guts and is still out through a loop...but thank you for your time, Haku." said the Namikaze.

"It's my pleasure. I'll be waiting here for someone to take me to prison." They said their goodbyes, and started their trek to their next stop...Anza. It wasn't that hard to find her, Mito could easily locate her by the chakras of Chomei, Son, and Isobu, and when they got to her room, the door opened, and a nurse walked out, stopping once she spotted them.

"Oh! You must be here to see how Anza's doing!"

The blonde twin nodded. "Yep. Has...she woken up at all?"

"No, sadly. I fear Tsunade is right about her being in a coma. I'm sorry, but there isn't more we can do until her arm is completely healed and the room is properly contained, because based on her record...she's a flight risk the moment she regains consciousness."

"Right...I understand…"

"Well, I have to go. Tsunade should be back in a minute, and if she starts to stir at all before then, let someone know."

"We will." The staff member left them with that, and the group went inside, where the missing-nin slept, with her chest barely moving as she breathed. Her left arm was in a temporary brace that reached all the way to the torn sleeve of her coat, probably to keep all the bones in the same place while Tsunade or any other medical-nin weren't there, but what all of them noticed the most...was how calm her face was. "She...looks so peaceful."

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah...nothing like how we last saw her..."

"So full of rage...I've only seen her that pissed twice. Once when we escaped from Taki, and the other when I told her I didn't want to be learn how to be a ninja. It...makes me angry to think that someone played with her mind like that. Whoever did that deserves to die." finished the amber-eyed kunoichi, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"D-do you think she can hear us?" asked Noboru after a second of silence, getting the Uchiha heir to shrug.

"I don't know. When I snuck in that one time, she seemed to hear it, as she woke up, but I think that was a coincidence. Why? You think that if you say something, you might be able to wake her up?"

"At this point...it can't hurt to try, right?" The budding sword-master went to his sensei's right side, and took a breath. 'Oh god, this is going to feel awkward...' "Hey Anza-sensei...it's been awhile, huh? You're still as pretty as ever, even while your entire left arm looks like it got put in the blender. Must be because of your parents. They are two good looking people...speaking of your parents...they are insanely worried about you. Seeing you like this...it's tearing them apart. It's tearing _me_ apart, and I haven't even known you as long as they have! Sensei...you have to trust me on this, they _do_ love you. Everytime they speak about you, everytime they watch the same Chunin Exams you took part in...I see a twinkle in their eyes. They are proud of you; proud of all your accomplishments...and most of all, they just want you back. But if you don't take my word for it, fine. I mean, who would? I'm just some guy from a far off village with barely any experience about the real world or with emotional speeches...but I hope you wake up, and not just from your nap." He moved back, and took a seat in one of the three chairs. "That didn't work, did it?"

Akira shook his head. "No. That means I wouldn't do any good, either…" Almost immediately, the eight year old took the spot that Noboru was just at, and grabbed ahold of Anza's hand.

"Mom...I know you can hear me...please, you've gotta wake up...you can't lay down when there is so much you still have to do! Isn't that one of the first things you taught us? S-so you have to set a good example, and this isn't one! You can't let one fight beat you! Wake up, and show that you're not out of the game yet!" Her grip tightened, and she couldn't stop her emotions from running wild. "Please...y-you have to w-wake up...you need to s-see that we're okay, and living just f-fine...grandpa never threw us in jail, I s-swear...you n-need to see the truth...please…" As Haruka began to sob, the rest of them realized...Anza may be there on that bed, but mentally...she was no where near them, as not even the tears of her daughter could make her move.

* * *

**A.N.: And now Anza's back in Konoha...knocked out to next year, but she's back. Will she ever wake up? And if she does, how will she react to everyone around her?**

**EteDesp Jirachi of Frost: It's not as big a plot hole as you think. Remember, they were born on the same day as Kurama was forced to attack Konoha. Minato, as it's leader, would have to make sure that everything got repaired while at the same time had to deal with issues concerning the Uchiha, who were being blamed for the attack, the people killed in the attack got buried, the people who were hurt got compensated, and so on. During all this chaos in the office, it can't be too much to think that even he would forget something like that. After all, he's still just a human. Of course, Anza would still call bullshit...**


	57. Chapter 57

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 57**

At the mission assignment desk, Minato's temporary office since his daughter blew up the previous one, the Hokage couldn't stop himself from running a hand through his hair as he looked over some reports he asked for...hours ago. No matter what he did, no matter how many papers he passed, his thoughts always went back to them. 'I can't believe how quickly the entire village learned that Anza has been hospitalized...almost every major station has done something on her since we returned. I knew it wouldn't take long, as a few people saw us enter the hospital and rumors travel fast, but for to be everywhere in only a day...I need to be prepared for any questions that come my way, as I know that a news crew is going to make their way to me at some point...it's only a matter of when.' Minato sighed, and he gazed up at the clock. 'Five-forty...almost time for me to get out of work. Might as well start putting everything away...there's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow.' He started putting things inside some newly drawn storage seals, and as soon he was finished and was about to flash out of there, the doors leading to the area opened without warning, and when he looked up, he saw the Third's old teammates making their way towards him. 'Great...just what I need right now...' "Koharu, Homura...what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We would like to speak to you, Lord Hokage." said the woman.

"Let me guess...Anza?"

"Yes. We need to figure out what we're going to do with her."

"Didn't we have this conversation once already two years ago? I've already told you, I'm not going to execute her!"

"Do you not realize what's she's done since then? She's not just a common criminal anymore, she's a terrorist."

Already feeling a headache coming on, the blonde covered his eyes with a hand. "Yes, I do, and I know what her actions technically classify her as…"

"Then why won't you take action? You know how traitors are dealt with, and your _daughter_ is very much one. I dare say that her betrayals are near the same level as Orochimaru's, or even Madara's, so she should be treated the same way." commented Homura.

"Because...unlike you, I have hope, a concept you can't seem to comprehend." He put his hand down, and gave them a glare. "Why? Why won't you just give me a chance to save her? Why must you believe that she's hopeless?"

"Lord Hokage, please realize we didn't take this lightly. Steeling ourselves to kill a child is hard on us, but when she's being controlled by her bloodlust for you and your wife, she has to die, or else everyone is at risk. Her bombing of your office and the kidnapping of Izumo and Kotetsu show us just what she's willing to do."

"You didn't answer my questions! Tell me why you don't want me to _try_!"

"That's a simple matter, we simply believe that you can't, and that you shouldn't waste your time. Anza is so steeped in her own anger and self-pity that at this point, she can't be redeemed." said Koharu.

"How do you know?! You know _nothing_ about her and what she's been through to make her like this! You haven't even faced her like I have, so you can't speak as if you have any idea if she can be saved or not!" He saw the retired kunoichi open her mouth, but he rose a hand. "No, I think it's time I set this entire thing straight. The both of you have been thorns in my side ever since Anza revealed herself as Menma and attacked me. Before then, you were just fine, but now you think anything concerning my daughter is in _your_ hands. Let me tell you something..._neither_ of you are the Hokage. The Third chose _me_ to succeed him, and my word is law. Do you see where I'm going with this? Yes...that means that ultimately, Anza, as an S-Rank prisoner _and_ as my daughter, she is _my_ responsibility, not yours, and I can decide to do whatever I want to do with her, and I say I will not execute her without giving her a chance. Now, we are _done_ here. Goodbye." Minato was enveloped in a yellow flash, and he was gone.

The glasses wearing veteran shook his head. "None of that went as hoped...I thought that seeing Anza attack him out of the blue and going into another battle with her would show him just how far gone she is, but obviously he's still going to play the fool…"

"He just doesn't see what we can see...Tobirama told us how he saw Madara slip through the cracks and never fully climbed back up, only sinking farther down, and now...if Anza isn't taken care of, she could very well escape and become a worldwide threat like Madara could have been if he defeated Hashirama."

"Then...we have no choice. Later tonight, we must make preparations, even if it costs us our standing. Such a potential travesty mustn't come to pass." They turned back around, and left the desk behind.

**-_Konoha Hospital_-**

"Minato...you _do_ realize you don't have to visit a day after you checked her in, right? Anza's still asleep, and she's still in pretty rough shape. She's not going to know you were here." said the pig-tailed medical-nin as Minato took a seat at his daughter's right.

"I know, but…" He sighed. "...but last time, I didn't, and before long she was right out from under our fingers again. I...simply want to see her as much as I can."

Tsunade nodded as she focused on healing the young girl's arm. "I think I can understand that." With no real topics to talk about, they stopped speaking, and the father of the patient resigned to the awkward silence. He felt like trying to start up a subject, but seeing how focused his teacher's teammate was at her job, he ultimately kept his mouth shut and turned inward with his thoughts, something that he hadn't had that much time to do today. Luckily for him, the quiet was ruined a couple of minutes later when the door swung open, and a certain redhead joined them, sitting down right next to the man.

"Hey."

"Hey…"

Kushina raised an eyebrow at his unusual defeated tone. "What's wrong? Did something else come up in Anza?"

"No, nothing that either me or Tsunade know of, why?"

"Because you don't sound like yourself. Kinda like your thinking of something that you'd rather not."

The corners of his lips twitched upward a bit. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

"Not when we've been together since we were kids. So what is it? Something at work?"

Minato sighed. "Yeah...Homura and Koharu have a habit of finding the right buttons to press…but I told them my stance hasn't changed, and I reminded them of who exactly I am. I know they just want Konoha to be safe, but damn it, they won't _listen_ to what I have to say! I can't kill Anza before finding out if she can be changed back to someone similar to the person she used to be, but they just can't seem to understand that! It drives me insane!"

Kushina frowned seeing her husband so frustrated, so she grabbed Minato's hand and squeezed it. "You shouldn't let them get to you like this. They...haven't been in our position before, they can't understand what we're going through."

"I know...I...I just...don't want to think about what I might have to do...if she can't change...then…"

She leaned on him, putting her head on his shoulders. "Then don't. We still have time...so let's think about something else, something happier, for a moment. How about...when our little girls were still in diapers?"

He chuckled. "That sounds great." Their gaze went back up to Anza's face, and for a second, they didn't see the teenage warrior...they saw a little baby...a baby who only had curiosity in her eyes.

**-_flashback: fourteen years ago-_**

In the Namikaze household, the Kyuubi's former jinchuuriki was bouncing up and down in the nursery, desperately trying to calm down the toddler in her arms. "Shh...shh...shh...c'mon, I just fed you a few minutes ago, what are you crying about now?"

"Waaah! Waaaaah!" shrieked the pale girl, getting Kushina to look around.

'This isn't working...if this keeps up, Mito might follow her lead, and I'll lose all the grasp I have on the situation...could she be bored?' Spotting something that might help her, she walked over to a shelf and picked up a pacifier, sticking it in the baby's mouth. It seemed to work, as she stopped whining. "Is that what you wanted, huh? Did you want your pacifier?" Almost immediately, the newborn spit it out, and began another round of crying. "Okay, no you didn't...what else could it be...oh! I got it!" Moving to another part of the room, she bent down to the toy box, and procured a rattle. Taking a seat on the floor, she set her white-haired child down, and waved the toy in her face. The girl looked as if she was in a trance, and reached out for it, and the Uzumaki gladly gave it to her. Soon after getting the rattle, the baby whacked it into the ground to get the sound out of it, giggling all the while. 'Phew...I think I got that handled. And what about Mito…?' She turned to the other twin, and saw her toss a stuffed dog with all the might her tiny body could muster...meaning it only went a few inches away, but she crawled over to it and did it again. "Well, you look like you're having fun!" The young Mito looked at her, and let out a happy gurgle before continuing doing what she was doing. 'Heh...she really loves that toy dog we got for them...I don't think it's going to last too long, though, both of them really like to beat it up...guess we'll just have to buy another one if it breaks, then!' As she watched them entertain themselves, the room momentarily brightened, stopping the twins dead in their tracks, and Kushina turned around to where the light came from. "Minato?"

The Hokage smiled. "I'm home."

"I see that...is it six already?"

"Not quite yet, it's almost five. I finished up everything a little early, so instead of waiting one more hour, I decided to come home to you and our little twins…and I think I have changed their attention to me…"

She chuckled. "You think? You can't use the Hiraishin and expect them to not try to find out where the bright light came from! Not to mention that I was the only one in here with them, then all the sudden their dad is in the same room with them!"

Minato rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah...didn't really think that one through...oh well, I'll just remember to teleport outside the house next time." He joined his wife down on the floor, and the other blonde crawled over to him, so he picked her up. "Oh hey, Mito...did you want to see me?" The powerful shinobi tickled the baby's stomach, making her shriek in glee.

Across from him, Kushina picked up the confused-looking one, and frowned. "You know...we still need to name this one. We haven't figured out one for her yet, and it's been four months! She's starting to react to general nouns in place of a name. That's...not good."

Minato stopped messing with his daughter. "I know, but I just can't think of anything. I thought maybe we could just call her something simple, but each didn't seem to fit. I want her name to mean something, like how Mito's is to honor the First's wife, the person who helped you cope with becoming a jinchuuriki."

"Well...what do we do, then? _My_ mother's name isn't anything special, my father's won't work, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to name her after _your_ mother or grandmother."

"Yeah...I don't know, but she needs a name...soon. She can't be known as 'She' for the rest of her life…" Both adults gazed at the amethyst-eyed child, who stared back at them, utterly bewildered as to why they looked so focused.

"Um...maybe...we can call her something based on how she looks? I mean, her general color is pale white, so we could call her...Shiro?"

"That doesn't sound too bad...it definitely fits, but...it doesn't go to the same level as Mito's. Where hers is something akin to a hope, a hope that she can be just as strong and brave as her namesake, Shiro would only be a...statement about her hair." The Fourth shook his head. "Maybe I'm just over complicating things..."

"No, no, I see what your saying...but that leads us back to square one…" As they started to frown over finding a name, the twins started to become restless while in their hands, so they let them go do their own things. Immediately after being released, Mito went back to the dog under the window and the other one followed her, having lost interest in the rattle. When the blonde took hold of the toy, her sister seemed to pout, and she too grabbed a leg of the fuzzy animal. They struggled for a second, but in the end Mito won, taking it back, leaving the white-haired girl with nothing to play with. Seeing that she was about to start crying, both parents started to move to her, but then, the clouds that covered the sun parted, shining a light through the window that hit the siblings. The rapid increase of brightness stopped the baby from balling, and she turned to the where it was coming from, becoming mesmerised by the sun disappearing and reappearing. At the same time, Minato and Kushina couldn't pull their eyes away from the show she was unknowingly putting on. When the sun was free of any obstructions, the sunlight bounced off the nameless child's head, and the color of her hair transformed from a dull, bleached grey to a magnificent ivory, shining second only to the moon and stars, and then it went back to the darker color on a loop. 'Did...it always brighten up like that? It's...beautiful…'

Her husband was having similar thoughts. 'Wow...it's like I'm looking at a second sun...I never thought it could be so brilliant...wait...that's it!' "Kushina...I think I have a name for her."

"Really?! What do you have in mind?"

Before he answered, he got up from his spot and walked over to his still-tranced daughter, sat down next to her, taking her into his arms. After making sure she wouldn't fall out of his hands, he lifted up a finger, and the baby looked at it with puzzlement before grasping it into her tiny hands. "That light...when it was reflected off of her hair, it brought back the basics of what I hope she can be. I want her to be as smart as possible...as strong as possible...as fast as possible...as _bright_ as possible. If she can do that, she can shine a brilliance akin to the midnight sky...so that is what I want to name her after...Anza…" He gently pulled his finger away, and lifted his daughter up into the air. "How about that? Do you like that name, Anza?" The newly-named Anza started to laugh, getting him to smile as he looked at Kushina from the corner of his eye. "Kushina? What do you think of it?"

She too smiled. "I think it's lovely. Mito and Anza...our two beautiful children…"

* * *

The memory ended quickly for the couple...and it did more than make the Hokage feel better. It reminded him of that same idea that inspired him, and he was going to do his best, no matter what anyone thought, to save Anza from her darkness...to bring back that shining light that she once was. "Kushina...I think we should get going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I have complete and utter confidence in Tsunade, she doesn't need us looking over her shoulder."

Kushina nodded. "Okay. We'll see you later, Tsunade." The hard-at-work Sannin looked up in acknowledgement, and the duo quickly left the room behind. After a few minutes of walking, they made their way back to the entry way, but the Uzumaki sighed in exasperation when she saw just who was on the other side of the glass doors. "Looks like the Konoha News Network has finally sent someone down here...and I'm sure it's not a report on below-average health care. They want to get something on Anza."

"Probably...but they won't get too far. They'll only learn that Tsunade is taking care of her, like the last time a story about her broke out."

"Right...but what do you want to do? If we walk out the front door, they'll surely want to ask a few questions."

"Yes, they will...but I might as well get it out of the way, as if I don't, one day they'll either start knocking at our door, or they'll try to corner me at the office. Plus...all of Konoha needs to know my stance concerning her." Taking the lead, Minato exited the hospital, his wife trailing close behind, facts that the reporter and his cameraman didn't miss.

'H-holy shit! It's the Hokage! This could be just what we need!' The man cleared his throat, and approached the blonde. "L-Lord Hokage! M-my name is Riku, and-"

"And you want to know if I can spare some time, right?"

"R-right! It would be an honor if you could answer a few things that a lot of Konoha wants to know."

The highly trained shinobi put on his most award-winning smile. "Sure, but can you keep the questions to a minimum? Kushina and I would like to go home so we can have dinner."

"Not a problem. Ken! Start recording!" The other young man pushed the red button, and gave Riku the thumbs up. "Alright...Lord Fourth, it's been a day since everyone heard the news that Anza has returned to Konoha, but it hasn't yet been officially confirmed by anyone, so I would like to ask...your daughter _is_ back, and she's currently staying in this hospital?"

"Yes, she is."

"What is her status, if you mind?"

"Unconscious. After our fight, she passed out, and hasn't woken up since."

"I'm sorry...that must be hard on you and Kushina…"

"It is, but we're managing the best we can. We've...had some experience with something like this, so it helps."

"Right, as she has disappeared twice before, and you thought she was actually dead the first time."

"Yeah...I'm glad that wasn't the case, and that we were wrong. It...gives us a chance to see her again, as we once thought that all we had left of her were her sword and some pictures."

"It certainly does...but I have to ask...what's going to happen to her?"

"Could you clarify?"

"I mean once she wakes up and, presumably, healed? She has committed multiple crimes, and around half of them are treasonous, so, as her father and as the leader of Konoha, what are you going to do?"

For a split second, he could feel his anger rising, but it was quickly squashed. 'This man isn't those two...keep calm…' "I'm going to tell you the same thing as I told two members of my council: I still believe that there's hope for her. It...it's my fault she became this way, so I want to do my best to fix everything, whether or not everyone agrees with me, and I hope people can understand that. I also understand that, if I can't...I _will _have to kill her, as I won't let her mother, her sisters, and her friends suffer knowing that she was slowly wasting away in jail. I simply won't."

Riku nodded. "I see...well, thank you for your time, that's all the questions I had."

"Your welcome. I hope the both of you have a good evening." With a single thought, he transported himself and the redhead back home, away from the stress of the rest of the world.

**-_a couple days later_-**

It was a relatively fine Saturday afternoon, if you asked the jonin-sensei of Team Seven. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud to be seen, the temperature was perfect...but he hardly noticed any of those things. Instead, he was focused on getting to the hospital so he could see Anza for a few minutes. 'I wonder...could today be the day she wakes up?' he thought as he passed street after street in his signature almost lazy fashion. 'And if she does...what will she do when she sees me? Try to run away again, or...just sit there? I don't know...but I want to find out.' Before he knew it, he was passing through the entrance, and was at the desk. Hearing that the cyclops was in front of him, the receptionist looked up from his computer.

"Ah, Kakashi. How may I help you?"

"Could you tell me if Anza Namikaze is allowed to have visitors at the moment? I'm afraid I haven't checked on her myself since she was admitted here, and I would like to see her."

"Oh...uh...um...you...haven't heard?"

Kakashi's lone eye narrowed. "...heard what?"

"Anza's not in the hospital anymore…"


	58. Chapter 58

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 58**

"...and the Hokage doesn't know about this?!"

"I don't think so, as he hasn't been here today or has called everyone in for a meeting."

Kakashi let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 'Oh, this isn't good…' "And I take it Tsunade isn't here, either?"

"No, sorry. I...wish I had better news for you, Kakashi, I really do, but that's all I know."

"Well...thank you. I just wish _I_ wasn't the one to have to tell him…"

"I could get someone to send a bird, if you'd like."

He waved him off. "No, it's fine. It would be better if he heard it from me than some other kind of medium, anyway. I hope you have a good rest of your day."

"Likewise. See you if one of your genin get sent here." The silver-haired jonin nodded, and turned back around where he just came from, making a second trip through his village.

'Damn...sensei and Kushina are NOT going to like this...not one bit...and the others…' He shook his head. 'I'm going to ruin their day, no questions about it…' For one of the few times since the exams, he sped up to full speed, finding himself at his teacher's front door in record time, and braced himself. 'Here we go…' Kakashi knocked, and when the wooden door swung open, he was somewhat relieved to see Sasuke instead of Minato.

"Oh, hey Kakashi-sensei. Time for a mission?"

"No, not this time...but I do have something you need to hear."

The Uchiha rose an eyebrow. "Really? What?"

"Um...first, who's all here?"

"Everyone. No one has gone out to train yet, so even Haruka and her friends are lounging around."

"Good...that means I won't have to repeat what I've found...I can come in, right?"

"Yeah, of course!" He backed out of the doorway, and his sensei followed him to the living room, which was filled to the brim with bodies. "...Haruka! Get out of my seat!"

"Hey, _you_ got out of it!"

"I had to answer the door!"

"Still got out of it!"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, will you get up for Kakashi? I'm sure he'd like to sit down."

"...no. This is my seat now, and there is nothing you can do to get me out of it."

Mito chuckled at the exchange, and got off the couch. "_I'll_ get up for him. Unlike _some_ people, I'm not heartless."

"I'm not heartless, I just don't want to lose this spot after I just got it!"

"Still rather cold, though."

"Don't care."

"...you really _are_ like Anza…"

The little girl smiled. "Thank you! I try!"

Kakashi gulped. 'And they're in a good mood...great, just great…' "Anyway...thank you, Mito. It...might be best if I sit down before I tell you the news I have."

"News? What kind of news?" the blonde asked as the older man took her seat.

"Not the good kind. It's...about Anza."

Everyone's eyes widened. "Then we should wait for mom and dad."

"That would be best."

**-_ten minutes later_-**

"Kakashi? It's been awhile since you've simply _visited_ us. You should do that more, you know. You're always welcome in our home." said the redhead upon making it back to the room.

Her husband, who got there before her, nodded. "Yes, you seem to only come here to get the kids for training or for a mission, you hardly spend any quality time with us anymore, like staying for dinner."

The jonin nervously chuckled. "I'll...keep that in mind...but sorry, I'm not here for a visit. I...have something you need to hear."

The couple looked at each other, and the Uzumaki sat down in the chair next to the Hokage. "Okay...what is it?"

He took a breath. "How do I say this...Anza's...not under the care of the hospital anymore."

For a couple minutes, a cloud of shock and silence hung over the heads of the inhabitants, blocking out all sounds outside. Finally, it was the Yellow Flash who regained motor functions first. "I-I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. I thought you said that Anza's not in the hospital anymore. I know that's a lie, as I would have heard something about it."

"No, you didn't. I stopped by there a little while ago, and the man at the front desk said that she was removed last night. Tsunade seems to have been moved to where she is now, as well."

Minato could feel his blood pressure rising, as something began to nag at the back of his mind. "And you're absolutely sure she's not there?!"

"Yes. Just to make sure, he asked a couple of his coworkers, and they said the same thing."

Kushina, too, started to slip into anger. "Who's responsible?!"

"If they're right...Koharu and Homura."

Once those two names hit their ears, the both of them understood everything, and Minato buried his head into his hands. "They...took her? When I specifically told them that they have no right to do anything to her?! No...no!" He looked back up to his student, and for a second, his azure eyes flashed red. "Where is she right now?"

"I don't know, sensei. All that they knew was that those two elders and a squad of shinobi walked right past the desk and up to the Anza's floor, then came back down with her and left, not saying a word to anyone."

Kushina's brows scrunched together. "I guess we'll have to have a little _talk_ with them later...but right now...Minato, I think I know where she's been taken."

"So do I...if they wanted to move her, then there's only one place that could hold her if she tried to escape...the new S-Block."

"S-Block? Is that like some kind of prison?" asked the mint-haired genin.

"Yes. I decided to create it when I learned of the Akatsuki, so that if we were able to capture any one of their members, we had a proper place to hold them. As it's name implies, only S-Ranks are allowed to be placed down there...and with everything that's happened, Anza is one now." He stood up. "I'm taking a trip there. If anyone wants to join me, feel free. And if those two are in there…" Minato let the sentence hang, and began to walk to the doorway. Everyone got up to follow him.

* * *

S-Block...was not what everyone was expecting. It wasn't even on the surface of the village. The entrance was in a building nearby the now falsely labeled 'maximum' security prison, and a spiraling staircase descended into the dark below, where the hallways were obsidian in color, but metallic in nature. The lights on the ceiling hardly did anything for the young ninja except point out where the hall branched out. "Is...it suppose to be so dark in here?" asked Noburo, getting the Hokage to nod.

"Of course. It's specifically designed so that, when the lights are thrown off, any prisoners that might get free will be thrown off, as everything would be the color of the void. It's also the same color as the cells, as if there is only a single color, it's supposed to eventually...break anyone that gets thrown down here, as their mind will try to fill that empty space with hallucinations. I just...hoped Anza wouldn't have to be one of its prisoners, especially like this…"

Behind him, he heard a growl. "If they harmed mom in any way...I'll kill them...rip them apart…bleed them dry..."

Sasuke looked down at the tiny Uchiha. "I understand how you feel, but killing them won't solve anything, it will only make things worse for you."

"I don't care...mom has saved my life a bunch of times when we started doing mercenary work, she's taught me everything I know, and she's taken care of me at her expense...I won't let _anyone_ get away with harming her when she's so defenceless..._ever_…" Sasuke was left speechless at the coldness in the eight-year old's eyes, but Haruka blinked, and it was gone. "Grandpa...how much longer until we get to her?"

"Not much longer...I can feel their chakras." He was proven right, as after a minute, they came across the council members, who were looking into the one-way glass, where they could see Tsunade still working on a now chained up and on her knees Anza, with bindings on every part of her body. Both arms were raised to a forty-degree angle, completely straight, and clasped with iron, giving them no mobility. Another was on her waist, with the chain leading to the back wall being as rigid as it possibly could, and the last four were on her legs, but that wasn't all. Her hands were also in their own prisons, where inside the steel gloves, her fingers were in separate cavities, making sure she couldn't form any hand-seals, one-handed or not.

As soon as Kushina saw the duo, her temper and motherly-instincts boiled over, and she crossed the remaining distance in seemingly a single bound, grabbed the retired shinobi by the collar and pushed them against the wall. "You have ten seconds to explain your actions, otherwise I will not hesitate to beat you to a bloody pulp. Understand?"

"We don't need to explain anything to you, Kushina. You should already understand why we did this." said Homura.

"I do...I just want to hear it from the backstabbers themselves."

"Call us what you want...we only did what had to be done. No action was being taken to guarantee that she couldn't escape, so we took it upon ourselves to make sure that didn't happen."

Minato stepped up. "Everything was under control, Homura! I had a plan for when she was fully healed! You didn't have to do anything!"

"I'm sorry...but we couldn't take that chance, not after she got away so easily the last time."

"So you don't trust me as the Hokage, is that it?" Both elders didn't answer him...and that irritated him more than if they said no. "Fine then. Kushina, let them go. I want to make sure they understand something." His wife nodded, and she released them, sending them one last icy glance before going back to the rest of the group. The Fourth strolled up to them, and made sure to stand up tall to instill authority. "Koharu, Homura...your actions are completely unacceptable. You had no jurisdiction to move Anza, and yet...you laid your hands on her. I will not forget your insubordination. I should just kick you off the council...but I won't..._yet_. You get ONE last chance, but you must follow my orders. You will not go anywhere near Anza again until I say so, and if I see or hear that you broke this rule, in _any_ way...you're time on the council is done. Forever." He let that sink in for a second, and after seeing them reluctantly nod, he pointed down the path he came from. "Now, _leave_." Without another word, Koharu and Homura walked away, fading into the shadows. The situation now resolved, he rolled his head back, and sighed. 'With any luck, I won't have to worry about them any time soon...anyway, I should go in there.' Turning to the heavy prison door, he approached it, and put his hand on a seal next to the large handle, pushing chakra through it and unlocking it. Pulling it to the side, he and a few of the others entered the cell, the others remaining outside.

"Tell me those two idiots are gone." said Jiraiya's teammate.

"Yes."

"Good. Ever since I could remember, they have been annoying. I'm sorry, I should have sent something telling you about this, but I needed to see what kind of damage they did to her arm, if any."

"And I take it there was?"

"Enough to where I needed to focus on it. Some of the tendons and muscles I had reconnected tore back apart when they got her arm in these chains, undoing all the work I did. It will be a day or two before it's healed all the way."

"Well...at least _that's_ some good news...still nothing in terms of consciousness?"

"Hasn't even twitched. When I'm done with the arm, I'll try to bring her out of this coma, now that she's...properly contained."

Hearing that last part, his hand twitched. "Right…" Minato turned around. "Alright everyone, it's time to head home. There's...nothing more we can...wait…" As he looked over the crowd, he noticed one person was out of his sight...and just a minute ago, she was saying something about killing two certain elders… 'Oh shit…' He pushed through the horde of shinobi, and checked his senses for the little girl. Luckily, she didn't really go anywhere, as she was staring off to where they last saw the council members. "Haruka…"

"I heard what Tsunade said...they didn't care about what they did to mom, as long as they got what they wanted...which hurt mom…" She turned her head slightly, just enough so that the Hokage could see her eye...and he saw something Sasuke didn't. Where he saw coldness...Minato saw the stare of a stone-cold murderer...the true gaze of a shinobi. "They're on my watch-list now...one wrong move, and they're done." Haruka went back to staring at the darkness. "We're going home now, right?"

"Y-yeah. Ready?"

"I'm always ready." Her 'grandfather' nodded, and instead of using the Hiraishin, he instead took the lead. After all of that...he figured some lunch would lift everyone's spirits.

* * *

Time, like it always does, went by quickly for them despite their best efforts. Minutes turned to hours, hours turned to days...and before they knew it, an entire week passed by, and during all that time...no one heard anything new about Anza. Not one bit. This fact didn't go unnoticed by Minato, who found himself worrying more and more about his daughter, and his mind was going everywhere else but his job. 'Damn it, I should have heard something by now! What the hell is going on?!' He rapidly stood up, making his chair fall to the ground with a *thunk*. "I can't wait any longer! I need to know!" Minato crossed his fingers, and a Kage Bunshin came to life next to him. "Take over for me! I have something I need to do!"

"Got it!" Not wasting another minute, he flashed to Anza's mark, and found her still out cold, with Tsunade at a wall, fist embedded into it.

"Tsunade...what's wrong?! Why is she still out?! Why haven't you contacted me?!"

"Nothing I do works…"

"What?"

She turned to face him, anger easily readable on her face. "Minato...nothing is working!"

"Please, explain what isn't working!"

"Everything! I've tried everything I know how to do, healed every nook and cranny of her brain, I even forced electrical signals directly to her mind to force her awake, yet she's still unconscious!"

Hearing that, his heart sank. "W-what does that mean?"

The Sannin sighed. "It means that...my job is done. I fixed all I can, but I can't heal what isn't broken, and her mind...is fine, from a medical standpoint. She's just...somehow forcing herself to stay asleep. It's out of my line of expertise." Saying her piece, Tsunade took her leave from Minato and Anza. When she was gone, the father dug his nails into his palms, and had to fight back the urge to rip out his golden spikes from his scalp.

'Damn it, Anza, do you not realize what this is doing to us?! To your friends?! To Sasuke, Mito, and Fu?! To your students?! Noboru, Akira, and Haruka don't know what to do any more! They need...no, _want_ _your_ directions, but your still sleeping! Because of what?! Fear?! You...you can't spend the rest of your life hiding!'

"Dad?" A familiar voice rang from the entrance, and calming down for a second, he turned, and spotted Mito. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Yeah...but we hadn't heard anything from Tsunade for awhile, and the constant unknowing was distracting me, so I came here to find out."

"Same here." The blonde twin stepped inside the cell, and took a spot next to her father. "I passed by Tsunade on my way in, and she didn't look so happy. And seeing that Anza isn't up...what's going on?"

"Your sister...has been conscious the entire time."

"What?!"

"Well, maybe not the _entire_ time, but for most of it. When someone's in a coma, there is suppose to be some kind of psychological damage that keeps the person unconscious, but when Tsunade checked, there isn't any with Anza."

"Then...she's in a self-induced hibernation, or something like that?"

"I don't know. If it was something like that, she would wake up at the feeling of pain." No sooner did the words leave his mouth was his other daughter bathed in the same orange light from the battle, and struck Anza in the cheek, whipping the snow-haired girl's head to the side, but the powerful punch didn't do anything, so she powered back down to normal.

"Well, we can rule that one out. What else is there...?" The family duo gazed at Anza for a few minutes, racking their brains over how they could wake her up, and finding nothing, Minato went back to his brief conversation with Hashirama's granddaughter...where he might have found what he was looking for.

' 'Out of my line of expertise'...and this is something going on inside her head…' A lightbulb went off. "Mito...stay here for a second. Keep watch over Anza, and I'll be right back." Before Kurama's jinchuuriki could say anything, he was out sight.

'Guess...I'm on guard duty.'

**-_a little while later_-**

"**...what do you mean 'not now'?!"**

'What does it sound like? I said not right now.'

"**I've been living in this damn place for fourteen years! Now that there's no more bars, I need a change!"**

'Can I do it when I get home? Because right now I _really_ need to concentrate! What if Koharu or Homura send someone to finish Anza off? I need to be ready, and you're distracting me!'

"**You're just trying to ignore my plight! **_**You**_ **live in a sewer for a decade and see how you feel!"**

"..ito! Mito!" Her dad's voice cut through the mental conversation, and she concentrated on the area around her, bringing her back to the real world. "There you are. Having a conversation with the Kyuubi?"

"Yeah, just ended, actually. He asked if I could improve his living space, and I said I'd do it later. So...why'd you leave?"

He pointed behind him, and for the first time, she noticed that there was a fourth person in the room. He had light, ash blonde hair that was spiky in the front, and had the back gathered into a ponytail. His eyes were blue-green, and he wore a sleeveless red haori over the standard flak-jacket, which itself was over a simple black outfit. "Had to go get someone."

"Oh, hey Inoichi!"

The Yamanaka head smiled at the young kunoichi. "Hello Mito. How are you?"

"Could be better...Anza hasn't woken up yet, and it's bugging me."

"I know, that's what your father told me. I hope I can be of some help." With that, he took a few steps forward, and placed a hand on the criminal jinchuuriki's head.

"What are you going to do?"

"With what Minato has said, it would seem as if she's turned inward onto herself, so I'm going to take a look inside her mind and see what I'm up against." Inoichi closed his eyes, and started the operation, but after a few minutes, he removed his hand. "Incredible…"

"What? What did you see?" asked the Hokage.

"Anza...has a much better grasp on her mind than most people twice her age. Like I suspected, she's pulled her very being deep into her mind, but what I wasn't expecting were walls blocking access...walls made up of memories, and they don't seem to be nice ones, as the first one…" Inoichi shook his head. "Nevermind. With how she's made it, I have to go into the memories to break through them, but it shouldn't take too long." He was about to put his hand back onto Anza's head, but Minato grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait. Is it possible for you to bring someone with you?"

"Yes."

"Then can I? I...I want to see what these memories are. If they're what I think they are, maybe...maybe I can understand her more, and see just what exactly she's been through since she was taken from us."

"Sure...but I can bring along more than one." He turned to Mito. "If you want, you can come, as well."

She jumped at the chance. "Yes! But...can you handle more than two? I think I know a few people who also would like to see these memories." He nodded. "Thank you! I'll be back in a flash!" The sapphire-eyed fourteen year-old dashed out the door, and came back after half an hour with only two people: her mother, and Sasuke.

"No Fu? I'm surprised." commented Minato.

"So was I, but when I told her about the memories, she decided to stay home, just in case one of the walls were of her and Anza's time in Taki. Said that it was one of the worst times in her life, and didn't want to relieve it."

"I can understand that."

"So is everyone ready?" asked the Yamanaka, getting everyone to nod. "Alright, make sure to stay in contact, and clear your minds." He placed his hand on top of the restrained girl, and prepared to delve deep into Anza's mind.

* * *

**A.N.: And the next chapter, I dub the 'Journey to the center of Anza'...and it won't be pretty. Oooh no, it won't.**

**EteDesp Jirachi of Frost: Is it really random? I'm sorry if it is, I'm just trying to add a spark of realism, but I very well could be screwing that part up...**


	59. Chapter 59

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 59**

When the family did as Inoichi instructed, they felt a quick and sharp tug on their foreheads, and then the room changed temperature, dropping around ten degrees. Feeling the sudden shift, all of them opened their eyes, and were amazed by their surroundings. "This...is Anza's mindscape? It's...it's ginormous!" exclaimed Mito, and she couldn't have been more right. Except for in front of them, they could see for what looked like kilometers around, but nothing was there. A fine layer of mist rolled off of the blue-grey floor, obscuring their vision to an extent, but they could easily see one of the walls Inoichi described, and it was mildly translucent, showing a slightly distorted vision of woods...and they could hear muffled sounds coming from it.

The skillful mind-reader nodded. "Yes...but this particular area isn't what we're interested in. Where we want to go, need to be, is far behind this place."

Sasuke walked up to the barrier. "It's...making noises."

"That...would be because it's a memory. Even though we're not in it at the moment, it's still playing through it's entirety, and because we're inside Anza's mind, we can hear it."

"Makes sense...I think." He looked at the image some more as the rest of them moved closer. "What do you think this one holds?"

"Nothing good. I saw just a little bit of it, and...it's why I brought you outside of it, so you weren't overwhelmed at what you saw in such a short period of time. Are...are all of you sure you want to see these?"

"Of course. Even if it's painful to watch...we need to see the life that we missed. If we do, we might be able to increase our chances with her." said the redhead, getting everyone to nod...even a certain, white robed man.

"Agreed. It doesn't hurt that I am curious as to how Anza became practically a carbon copy of my brother, either." Hearing the mostly unknown voice, all five turned around.

"You...you weren't in Anza's cell...who are you? How did you get in here?" asked Inoichi.

"I've been here the entire time." Asura pointed at Mito. "See?"

Minato changed his attention to his daughter. "Mito...what is this man talking about? What does he mean by 'been here the entire time'?"

Despite what they were going to be doing in a minute, the young girl nervously smiled, and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh...yeah...uh...do you remember, by any chance, that conversation I had with you after Anza escaped Konoha? The one with the voice that seemed to control my dream?"

"I...think so, why? Is...is that him?"

"Yes. Dad...meet the voice. Mom...meet your great-great-great-great-great….how many greats was it, again?" she directed the last part to the son of the legendary sage, who put a hand on his chin.

"Not sure...I, and most of my descendents, had rather long lives, some living well past one-hundred and still were able to fight...so...around six to eleven greats."

"Right...well, to put it simply...mom, he's our ancestor, and I'm his reincarnation. Thanks to my blood and chakra, he can appear...I guess anywhere I go."

"But _who_ is he? What's his name?" she asked, getting him to lightly chuckle.

"If you're hoping to recognize it, sorry, my name was lost to history, the same way my brothers and my fathers was, but we never could match our father's achievements, so only he was remembered. Well...unless you count reintroducing war as an achievement...sorry about that, by the way. My brother...was a very angry person back then."

"You...didn't answer my question."

"Sorry, he does that." said Mito.

"Picked it up from father. He liked to give half-answers, questions that actually were answers, and not answering when the answer would reveal itself in time. Anyway, I'm Asura. Pleasure to meet my reincarnation's parents and friends. Never thought I would get the chance."

"The...pleasure is ours...but Mito, why didn't you tell us about him?"

Asura raised his hand. "My fault. I asked her to not reveal me to you, as you have to admit, hearing that one of your children is technically the same person that started one of your clans _and_ that the real ancestor is living in her head would make you think she's a little crazy. I didn't want that to happen, so I decided to help…" He sighed. "...TRIED to help... in the shadows. Couldn't stop history from repeating for the thousandth time, so I failed in that regard…but I think I can actually do something now."

"Like what?"

"Not right now, I'll tell you when we get through the walls."

Minato decided to get everything back on track, and looked at Inoichi. "And how do we do that, might I ask?"

Inoichi shook himself out of the shock. "To enter, all we have to do is walk into it, and when you're...satisfied with what you've seen, I'll transport us to the next wall and break through it, like I've done with this one."

"Thank you. Well, shall we get this over with?" Without waiting for a response, he stepped through, an action everyone mirrored, and the six of them found themselves deep within a forest, with what looked like green tents a sizable distance away. Unlike when they were outside it, they couldn't hear the strange sounds anymore, something Mito took notice of.

"It's dead silent out here...why is it so quiet?"

"Because, outside of it, this wall was playing all of it's contents at once. Now that we're inside, it's only playing a part...the same part I left at, only we're not at the tents at the moment."

"Oh…" Her question answered, she started the small journey to the campsite, and as they got closer, the silence started to vanish, replaced with the sounds of life. Men and women in mix-matched clothes sat around a campfire, eating and drinking their fill, laughing over jokes of their most recent plunders. Some were walking out of tents, yawning and stretching like they just woke up, some were using the trees as target practice for their knives, and some were simply doing nothing at all, boredom laced on their faces. 'This must be the time when Anza was taken captive by bandits...that means, right now...she could be being raped…' She glanced over to her parents, and saw that they were probably having the same thoughts, as their eyes took on a sad look.

"Where's Anza being held?" asked the Hokage.

"It might not be best to see her right now…" replied Inoichi.

"Just...just tell me." The shinobi nodded, but before he could tell his leader, two men walked out of a slightly small tent, with one of them buckling up their pants.

"Ah...I needed that. I've been waiting out for an entire week, hoping that we could take an older one to have fun with, but _damn_...she never disappoints!"

The other one chuckled. "Right? This girl was one of our best finds! It must be because of that young and fresh body that no one ever leaves unsatisfied!"

"It's not so fresh now, though!" They shared a boisterous laugh, and took a seat at the fire.

Pits started to nestle in their stomachs after hearing that small conversation, but they needed to know if their suspicions were correct, so they put one foot after the other, and fazed through the tent the duo left...and they were, unfortunately, right. Sasuke immediately squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, Kushina brought her hands up to her mouth while her eyes started to tear up, and Minato and Mito's eyes widened in horror while the Yamanaka and Asura looked down at the ground.

"Oh my god…" murmured the redhead. Anza, a little girl at this time...was completely naked, showing that her entire body was covered in dark bruises, especially on her right arm and both of her thighs. Her hair was matted, and filthy from the dirt left behind from bandit hands, her legs parted, showing the oozing aftermath of the men's visit, and her eyes...there was nothing in them. No light, no anger, not even sadness...just...a blank stare.

"How...how could anyone do this?" asked Sasuke.

"I...I don't know, Sasuke...even now, with so many generations of knowledge, I still don't understand what could make a person force themselves onto another, especially one so young…" said the Otsutsuki.

'It hurts…'

The Yellow Flash jolted back to life. "Wait...was that...Anza?"

"It's a thought. We're in her memory, we...we can hear whatever thoughts she had at this point in time." sadly explained Inoichi, and just after that, they tuned back into what the chained-up Namikaze was thinking.

'-...all hurts...everything...hurts...pain...everywhere...need help...but no one comes...cares...I...just...want to go home...but no one...comes...why…?' They saw Anza's eyes close, and her head fell to the side. She fell asleep, but to the group, it lasted only a second, as Anza was slapped awake by different, short-haired man, who gave a single, devilish grin before stripping, and proceeded to take advantage of her. No explanation, no asking...just...did, like an animal. That was when everyone left the tent. No one could take the sight of such a bright young girl being abused like that...no one.

"She...she told me about this...but to see it for myself...it's unbelieveable…at least she kills these bastards in the end. They got what they deserved…" muttered Mito.

"Yes...they did." sourly spat Asura.

Minato shook his head. "From those words...this was where it all started...her anger and rage. We...have to see just when it took her over." Steeling themselves to stay, they remained outside so they didn't have to watch what was being done to little Anza, and did their best to ignore the sounds coming from pitched-up shelter...but they couldn't ignore her thoughts.

'It never ends...every day, they use me...where are they? Dad...mom? Itachi...Shisui? Kakashi…Uncle? They...should have been here by now...please...come save me...I...can't fight back…can't...feel my arm...' Both parents started to let the tears fall at their daughter's hopes, knowing that they never came to pass. It never got any better, either. Like she once told Mito, they heard her silently ask for help every day despite the increasingly diminishing chances of her being rescued, and every time they heard her desperately call out for them, their hearts broke just a little more. It got even worse when finally...she stopped asking. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing...and then...something. 'I'm...not going to be saved...am I? They left me...why? Why did they leave me to these monsters...aren't...aren't they suppose to be heroes? Where...are mine? Did...did they lie...to me?' Images flashed through everyone's eyes, images of her parent's smiling to her. 'Why? I...always did what they wanted...tried...to make them proud...I...was a good girl...right? Why...won't they save me? Why? Why...why...why...WHY?!' Almost as sudden as the mental outburst, Mito reached up to her head, a strange pain pressing down on her brain.

'A...headache? Now? But...that doesn't make any sense...there was nothing there a minute ago…' Following a hunch, the blonde went back into Anza's prison, finding her alone...and snarling, with her Sharingan blazing.

'Is this...the truth?! The truth of everything I've ever known?! That mom and dad...don't care about me in the slightest?! No...no! It can't be...it...it can't be true!' Hearing that, everyone rushed back in, and Anza began to shake her head back and forth. 'But that's it, isn't it?! That's why they haven't come! They'll never come for me! NEVER!' As they watched, a single tomoe formed in her left eye, and two emerged into her right. Soon after, they began enlarging, and once they combined into a pinwheel, they cracked into many pieces. Right after, she stopped moving, and simply stared down at her legs. '...I'm all alone...with rapists as my only company...this...is my life now...and I'm _sick of it_. If no one is going to save me...then I'll save myself. I've got to get out of here...but I can't do anything without my right arm.' Anza switched her gaze over to her injured arm, and tried to move it, but just the sheer act of trying caused her pain, making her eyes go the size of dish pans. Luckily for her, she got used to not crying out from all them times that she was punished for doing so. 'Nothing...I guess...I have to wait...but when the time comes...nothing is going to stop me. _Nothing_…' Her new Mangekyo disappeared from her eyes, and she went to sleep...waiting.

"There it was...she broke. Now all that's left is to watch them die." said Sasuke, getting Kushina to look at him.

"Sasuke, don't let your anger control you."

"I know, but after seeing what they've done to her...I need to see them be killed by her hands. Kushina, they destroyed the person that she was! I _need_ to see justice being given to these scumbags." Mito nodded in agreement with him, and the mother sighed, resigning to the fact that they couldn't be swayed. And so...they waited.

* * *

Two weeks...that's how much time the group thought had passed since Anza made that oath to free herself from the bandits, yet nothing had happened since...but that was all about to change. While the mind delvers were sitting outside, waiting for any thoughts that would tell them she would begin enacting her plan, her right hand twitched, and slowly closed into a fist. Anza lightly smiled at the small achievement. 'Yes...I can move my hand...what about my arm?' She braced herself, and lifted up the limb without any help from her other arm, grimacing as she did. 'Hurts like hell...but it'll have to do. Just have to wait for the right time...then I can get out.' She didn't have to wait too long, though, as two 'days' later, a few people gathered right in front of the flaps of her tent.

"Ayumu, we're going to see if there's going to be another sucker to rob. I want you to stand guard here." said a vaguely familiar voice, at least to Minato and co.

"What? Why?"

"Because I need you to keep people out of here. I don't want anyone to visit the prisoner today except _me_."

"But why me?"

"Because I can't trust Etsuko to do it. You know how she is."

"Right...fine, I'll do it, Michi. You're lucky you're my brother."

"And so am I. I'll be back by midnight."

"Midnight?"

"You never know, they may have gotten a thought in their head that if they wait until then, we won't be there. I'll prove them wrong if that's the case. See you later." The majority marched off, leaving one set of feet visible to Anza.

'Oh, this is just great...I won't have to worry about getting tired today, and he left only one man to watch over me...he made this too easy. Might as well wait till nightfall...I need the shadows if I'm going to successfully get away.'

Asura looked at Mito. "Sounds like it's going to come under way soon."

"Yeah...but something isn't adding up. At this point, I would have thought that she'd want to kill her captors, but...she doesn't. All she wants to do is escape."

His eyes widened at her point. "You're right. Something must happen between now and then...let's go inside. Might be that the guy being left behind makes her boil over." She nodded, and everyone went back inside one more time...but nothing happened for hours. Ayumu never came in, and Anza's plans never wandered into anything more than a simple escape. As night descended upon them, they saw Anza nod to herself, and her shoulders started to shake as thoughts of neglect and torture perversed her mind, making tears fall in a matter of minutes. She began to loudly sob, which got the attention of the guard.

"Hey! What have we told you about crying?!" he shouted as he barged in.

"I-I'm sorry...p-please...go away...I'll...I'll stop…"

Ayumu scowled. "YOU'RE telling ME to go away?! You little _bitch_...I guess you need another lesson to put you in your place." He dug into his pocket, and brought out a roll of tape.

"No...please…" she 'pleaded' as he got closer and closer, faking fear, but when he got an arm's length away, she activated her eyes to their maximum.

"W-what the fuck?!"

Without putting much thought into her words, she whispered a phrase that, as of late, she began to hear in her mind over, and over again. "Sensu Hen'i." Immediately, he froze, and he couldn't move an inch. Even his mouth wouldn't work, so he couldn't shout what she was doing. Anza smirked, and stood up. Not saying another word, she used the relatively lengthy chain to her advantage, and climbed atop the man, wrapping the chain around his neck as she did...then she pulled. In a few seconds, the man fainted from the lack of air. Reaching into his pockets, she procured the key to her neck that, undoubtedly, was given to him by his brother, and popped the collar off. She let out a small sigh of relief, and took a second to let her arm rest. While she did, her gaze fell onto the unconscious man, and she couldn't help but notice how...vulnerable he was...how _defenceless_ he was... 'Just like I was...while I had no way of fighting back, they decided to use me like a personal _toy_ to be used...never once did they stop and think about what they were doing...they just wanted someone to satisfy themselves, with no possible repercussions...that's what they thought I am...a weak girl.' Anza's face etched into a scowl as the anger from a few days ago resurfaced. 'I...am...not...weak...I was trained by two of the greatest shinobi in Konoha...they _all_ need to disappear...need to die...no...no...I need to calm down…' She shook her head in a desperate attempt to quell her feelings, but as soon as she saw Ayumu face down again, all the days of constant rape and abuse flooded her mind, and her entire body started to shake. That's when something inside her...snapped. 'No...no..._no_...I...I...won't let them...get away with this...I WON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS….I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER LIKE I'VE SUFFERED...I'M GOING TO MAKE THEM PAAAAAAAAY!' The white-haired kunoichi-in-training picked back up the collar, and put it on the bandit's neck, locking him to the post like she was not five minutes before. Now rage-fuelled, she formed the 'tora' seal, and spat a small fireball at the tent, quickly igniting it. She then shot another one at the downed man, and turned to the exit, walking out as he woke up, screaming in pain as his skin started to burn off of him. As her next act, she launched hellfire all around her, hitting trees, swaths of grass, and more residences, but she made sure that the leader's tent would be the most likely to remain standing. The combination of Ayumu's cries and the sounds of the entire forest being burnt down woke up everyone, and they rushed out before they caught fire...but they stopped in their tracks as they saw Anza, head tilted to the ground and eerily calm amidst the destruction.

"What...she's free?! How?!"

"Did she cause all of this?!"

Anza chuckled, and she lifted her head to look at them, causing a chill to run down most of their spines as they saw the insane smile she had. "Yes...I did...but this is only the beginning. I won't let any of you get away from me...I'll burn down every inch of this place if it means that I get to end your lives." Her eyes seemed to crack even more, and the glass-like lines started to shine before her right eye started to bleed. "SENSU HEN'I!" Once those words were uttered, the mass of bandits gained a look of fear.

"S-she's gone!"

The invisible Kushina scrunched up her eyebrows. "Gone? But...I can still see her...it must have something to do with that phrase. She said it earlier, and it seemed to paralyze that man. Now, they think she vanished…"

Minato nodded. "I think you're right… 'sense displacement'...it has to be one of her Mangekyo abilities...but if it does something like _this_...why didn't she use it against us?"

Back with Anza, she began to circle around them, eyeing them like a predator to prey. "Twenty-five of you...oops, I mean twenty-four, now that little Ayumu isn't with us anymore. I wonder...how quickly do you think I can make that number turn to zero? One minute? Two? Ten? C'mon..._give me your thoughts_." Dead silence. "Nothing? Alright…" Stopping in front of a burning tent, she picked a bandit and created another ball of flame, which hit the woman before she even knew it was coming for her and exploded, scattering embers everywhere and sending everyone around her down to the ground. "You see? Should have answered...actually, it wouldn't have made a difference. I'm going to kill every last one of you...and there's nothing you can do to stop it. You thought I was nothing more than a chained-up little girl, with nothing to her name and not a drop of intelligence...little did you know that you're dealing with a ninja...and you've been tempting fate ever since you found me. You're luck...has run out. You hear me?! Not a single one of you is going to live past this night! YOU ARE ALL ARE GOING TO BE BEGGING TO ME FOR MERCY! I WON'T GIVE IT, NOT AFTER ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!" Immediately, she dashed forth, and jumped on a man, clamping her hands down on his throat. As he struggled to breathe and tried to find a good spot to place his hands, one of his friends made a motion to grab their sword, but Anza didn't wait for him to get anywhere close to her. She let go, dropped down, and took a knife off of it's owners holster, making a quick, deep cut across his stomach, spraying blood all over her face and hair. The Namikaze retreated for a minute, new weapon in hand, while her victim fell to the ground, dying...and she took an unexpected pleasure watching it. "Yes..._yes_...this is payback, you _bastards_…" she seethed, and the large amount of killing intent caused her marks to take a step back in fear.

"H-how can we fight something we can't see?" murmured one, and she cackled.

"_You_ can't! SO JUST SIT THERE AND DIE!" She charged back in, and the team watching the memory were horrified to see just how much of a bloodbath it really was. Anza stabbed one in the arm and ran it down all the way to their hand, utterly destroying it before stabbing him in the right side of his chest, penetrating his lung. Another was almost beheaded at the force she used to cut his throat, one was pierced in the eye, with the blade going right into the brain, killing him instantly...one even had the misfortune of having the crown of their head lit up by a stream of flame, and couldn't do anything as they were consumed by its heat. Each death was as brutal as the ones before and the ones after, all the while Mito was desperately putting pressure on her forehead to calm the headache she had. It didn't work, and in the end, her sister and the ground were awash with the lifeblood of over twenty people...all except one, a young, mousy-haired woman of similar eyes to the late Ayumu, signifying a relation. Anza cut off the jutsu, allowing her to see the now-crimson child, and for a second the daughter of the Hokage shut her eyes to clear her fuzzy vision. "Now...the only one left here is you...Etsuko. I think...I'm going to enjoy this."

Etsuko snarled. "I knew we should have just killed you...but Michi was too stubborn. I don't understand what he saw in you, but I just _knew_ you were different...now we all pay for his stupidity."

"Oh yes...you are...but I know that wasn't what you were thinking while you yourself had 'fun' with me. I'm going to erase you from this world, so why don't you make it easy on yourself and let me have my turn with you?"

"I'm not going down without a fight!" She pulled out her own dagger, and charged forward.

"...stupid move." Anza waited until the right moment, and parried her attack, making the other weapon fly off into the fiery woods. Without skipping a beat, she buried her knife into Etsuko's thigh, then repeated the action with the other leg, sending the older girl to the ground. Before she could get back up, the nine-year old pounced on top of her, and held her arms down, chuckling. "So how does it feel to be powerless, now that someone stronger than you has you pinned? Feels _great_, doesn't it?"

She struggled for a minute, but nothing the female bandit did could shake Anza off, and pure terror started to seep into her while she looked at those eyes crackling with equal parts power and madness, so she did the only thing left for her to do. "P-please...I...I'll do whatever you want! Anything, no matter what it is! Just...just let me live! I-I didn't even want to be a bandit, but my brothers convinced me it would be the easiest way to make money! Please, you have to believe me!"

Anza stopped smiling. "Anything, huh?" Etsuko nodded, and the Uchiha-trained girl leaned in a little. "You know, that doesn't sound half bad…" She kept getting closer, only stopping when her nose almost brushed against the woman's, as if she was going to kiss her, but she instead tightened her grip on her stolen knife and stabbed Etsuko's shoulder.

"Aaaaah!"

"How _stupid_ do you think I am?! I've read about your kind...as soon as someone gets the upperhand, you lie right in their face, promising that you'll change, and then when their backs are turned, you'll try to kill them." Anza began to twist the knife still in the wound, getting a shrill cry to escape the bandit's mouth. "I won't fall for something like that...not when you have caused me so much pain. I want you to die...I want you to die...I want you to die!" She pulled the knife out, raised it far above her head, then imbedded it into her chest. "Die! Die die die die die die die die die die DIE!" Each word was punctuated with another deadly stabbing, sending blood splattering around them. When she was finished, she simply smirked, and got off the corpse. "Now...to see what I can recover before he comes back, and the flames reach it…" Anza eyed the remarkably still standing tent, and walked into it. Inside, she found a vaguely bed-like mound of sticks with multiple sheets over it, probably to make it more comfortable, but that wasn't what she wanted. What _was_, though, was at the end of it, a rather expensive looking wooden chest. 'Must have belonged to a merchant that took a wrong turn...I just hope it has what I need.' Getting close to it, she kicked through the top of it, and tore away excess wood so she could see clearly into it. There were a few stacks of ryo, a few grand in jewellery, and at the very bottom...were her old clothes, dry, but in tatters. Without wasting another minute, she dug them out, put them on, and checked to see how many seals survived her tumble into the river, getting a handful of shuriken, two kunai, and a leather journal. 'Enough…' Putting them back in, she looked around one more time, and picked up a torn piece of rope, tieing it around her waist for later use, and exited the temporary building, setting it on fire as she did. Afterward, Anza sat down next to Etsuko's dead body. 'It's going to be awhile until Michi and his small force come back...good thing I started a fire.'

As the inferno raged around them, Minato, Kushina, Sasuke, Inoichi, and Asura finally tore their sights off of Anza and to Mito, whose legs were shaking, and her face looked a little pale. "Are you alright, Mito?" asked her mother.

"Y-yeah...just a headache...a really...really...bad one…"

"You were fine before we entered." commented Sasuke.

"I was...but when Anza began to get angry, something started...to press down on my head...it only got worse when she started killing everyone. It...took everything I had to not claw out my own hair."

Asura put a hand on her shoulder. "What exactly pressed down on your head? What did it feel like?"

"I...don't know what it was...but it felt..._dark_. I never felt anything like it...wait, yes, I have...it was like when Zabuza directed killing intent at me and my team, but somehow...worse?"

"Sounds like Negative Emotions Sense."

"You mean the same thing fuzzball can do?"

"Yes. You must have gained access to it when you removed the seal, making you, essentially, one being. Do you think you can continue with this? Because there might be more parts where she becomes as...insane as what we just saw, and if it's affecting you like this, I'd rather you wait back in the real world."

She nodded as best she could. "If it's true I can sense her anger and sadness, this...gives me the ability to truly feel what she felt...I'd be an idiot to pass this up."

The inheritor of the Sage's will shook his head, but relented. "Alright...if that's what you want."

**-_later_-**

It was already in the dead of night when Anza brought about her massacre, so when Michi and the last bandits came back to camp, the forest and the tents still burned with the girls rage. "What...the fuck happened?!" shouted Michi as he spotted body after body lying on the ground.

"Everything...everything's been destroyed! Even the place we housed the prisoner!" shouted a large member of his entourage.

Another one, a lean man with a bow strapped to his body, pointed directly to the center of the carnage. "Wait...is...isn't that Etsuko? Great kami...someone wanted her dead badly...but...who's that right next to her?"

The light-haired leader squinted to get a better look at the redhead next to his dead sister, but he couldn't recognize her. "Hey! Are you the one responsible for all of this?!" The woman's shoulders quivered before throwing her head back, laughing, and his heart stopped for a second when he realized it sounded a lot like the voice of his prisoner. "No...it's...you...but how...how did you get out?"

Anza, whose hair was caked with the red of the man's comrades scalp to ends, chuckled. "Ask your brother when you see him again." She stood up, turned around, and cracked her neck, gaining that twisted grin when she was done. "_I've been waiting for you_..._how dare you keep a lady waiting?_"

"You are no lady."

"And I would agree with that...but you see, there is the issue with me not being a child anymore, thanks to you and your crew...and I'm going to kill you for that." No sooner did those words leave her mouth did the one with a bow got in a firing position and shot an arrow at her, but her Mangekyo saw every detail, allowing her to easily dodge by moving her head to the side.

"W-what?!" he shrieked.

"I'm sorry...was that suppose to hit me? It just moved so slow..._it was tempting me to move out of the way_."

"Get her!" said one as he pulled out his mace, and three of them charged while the archer stayed back to provide support, much to Michi's horror.

"Stop, you idiots! You can't just run in against someone like her!" His pleas fell on deaf ears, and they went on with their foolish attack. Anza answered their challenge by summoning a kunai, and showed them that they should have listened. Ducking under the initial strike from the mace, she quickly slashed the man's hand before shifting her stance to deflect an axe, which she punished by stabbing the other attacker's stomach twice and forcing them away, giving the the archer a clear shot, only for her to catch him drawing the string out of the corner of her eye. She side-stepped the missile, and threw her knife with pinpoint accuracy into the center of his head. Bringing out her last kunai, she re-focused back on the last two near her, and decided to go on the offensive. The man with a mace tried another attack, but she dodged it again, and made sure to stab his wrist this time, making him drop his weapon. Grabbing his arm with her other hand, she went behind him and climbed up onto his back, reached up to his neck, and snapped it. When he lifelessly fell down to the ground, she pulled her kunai out of him and went after the final one, who only had a simple knife, and his eyes told her that he knew his fate. He proved no challenge to her superior skills, and died quickly when she punctured his heart...leaving her and Michi alone.

"Aww...it looks you don't have anyone else to back you up! How are you going to fight the Sharingan when you don't have the manpower to overcome it?"

He brought his hand up to his back, and removed his spear from its strap, pointing it at the little girl. "It looks like I don't have a choice. It's either I win, or I die."

"And you'd be correct...except that the odds of you winning are zero percent. You can't beat me, not in a hundred years. Almost nothing gets past my eyes. Your every move, _I _see before you even know what you're going to do next. There is nothing you can do but delay the inevitable...no, not even that. I'm going to show you just how weak you really are!" She ran at him at speeds he didn't know a child could run at, and he jabbed at her, but he missed, leaving the largest opening she'd ever seen. Colliding head-to-head, the leader of his now dead bandit group flew onto his back, spear barely in his grasp. Michi scrambled back up, and prepared to defend himself, but Anza was too much for him. She easily got under his guard again, grabbed his weapon, pushed the blunt end into him, which made his own grip loosen, and tore it out of his hands. Next, she dropped her kunai for a second and tackled him back to the ground, and took a position on his chest. "See? See how quickly I've taken away your power?! You're self-given manhood?! You're NOTHING compared to me! You had to keep me broken and restrained to control me! Well no more! I have killed EVERY LAST ONE of your men, incinerated your home, TAKEN AWAY EVERYTHING YOU'VE WORKED FOR! YOU'LL DIE...WITH NOTHING!" He tried to punch her, but she caught it. "Still have a little fight left in you? Let me fix that…" She returned the action, hitting his nose and breaking it. Anza let go of his hand and began to beat him until he passed out from the pain. Satisfied for the moment, she removed herself from him, and grabbed his legs, dragging him to a burnt tree. Propping him up with his back on it, she took his arms and pulled them back so that his hands were on the opposite side of the trunk, untied the rope she was using as a belt, and bound his wrists together as tightly as she could. "Heh...oh, this is just perfect...just..._perfect_…" Leaving him alone for a second, she went and picked up her own weapon, and his, before taking a seat in front of him, spear planted into the ground. 'I'm not done with you...not until you feel what I've felt. So I'll wait for you to wake up...I have time.'

* * *

Eight hours past, and a new day dawned over the crimson battleground and it's two survivors, and all that time, Anza watched Michi fidget in his sleep. Eventually, though, his eyes fluttered, and he groaned. "What…? I'm...not...dead?"

"Nope. I had other plans for you."

"Plans?" He tried to move, but feeling his arms rubbing up on something rough, he turned his head, and saw that he was stuck to a tree.

"You can tell, can't you? What I want to do to you."

"You...bound me to a tree? Oh...I see...this is your way at getting back at me...at us."

"Yes. You restrained me to a post, _I_ restrain _you_ to a post. Tit for tat...what goes around comes around...an eye for an eye...karma, however you want to say it, I believe this is fitting, don't you think?"

Michi scowled. "So what else? Are you going to do the same thing I've done to you to me?"

The former prisoner laughed. "No. I'm going to be much..._much_ worse." Anza stood up, both weapons in hand, and moved behind him. Raising the spear, she brought the tip to the palm of his hand. "I'm going to make this quick, as I am sick of your face." She began to push it into his hand, soon drawing blood, but she went one step further by forcing it clean through bone and the other hand, eliciting a sharp cry of pain. "Hurts, doesn't it? This is the only thing I can think of that can compare to you forcing me to have sex with you...but I'm going to make sure you can't escape. Unlike you, who is an idiot for not making sure someone with my build can't use a single arm, I know better, as I...I am more intelligent, especially now." The angry child went back to the front, and lifted up one of his feet.

"W-wait! I-isn't...destroying my hands enough? I can't...escape without...my hands!"

"No. As I said...I have more intelligence than you." As quick as a flash, she cut his achilles-tendon with one swift cut, but it wasn't enough for her. Shifting to the other leg, she repeated the action. "There...now one of these three will happen to you. One: you'll bleed out, two: you'll starve or die of thirst, or three, my personal favorite...be devoured by the animals that call this forest home. Either way...I'm done with you. I've guranteed your suffering." Anza stood up, putting the kunai back into it's seal. "Even if you somehow got free, you can't walk. Can't walk, you can't live, simple as that." She turned, and began to walk away. "It's over for you. You'll never be able to touch me again." As she left the man behind, everything started slowing down, and finally, stopped completely.

"It's done. This memory is complete." said Inoichi, and the rest of the team breathed a sigh of relief.

"My god...I can't believe that even then, she was brutal in how she killed her enemies...she's only nine here, and yet, it's like there's no difference." voiced the Uchiha.

"But what I don't get, though...is that this doesn't seem right." said Mito, getting him to turn to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Back when she first told me how she escaped, she said that she killed them in their sleep, not…" She motioned to the torn-apart bodies. "..._this_…so it doesn't make sense to me. If this is her memory of her escape...why would she lie to me about something like this?"

"Maybe...she didn't want you to know?"

"But why? Why would she pretty up the truth about this event?" She placed her hand on her forehead. "Gah, never mind...I guess it'll be something I can ask her personally later...can we move on, Inoichi?"

Said man nodded. "Yes, of course. Follow me." The Yamanaka took the lead, and in a few minutes the entire group found themselves at the site of another semi-see-through wall, with what looked like buildings on the other side. Inoichi put his hand on it, and closed his eyes. Before long the image started to warp and swirl, then the entire thing shattered, the pieces vaporizing into the air before they could touch the ground. "We can enter now. I don't know what this one holds, but prepare for anything." The rest of them nodded, and they stepped in, finding themselves in the back alleys of a village, with Anza, who looked like she hadn't taken a bath or shower in weeks, with her almost black hair, right in front of them, dragging her feet everywhere she went.

"I hate this place...no matter where I go, the people sneer in disgust at the slightest sight of me...is it the blood? I tried to clean myself, but no one is allowed to bathe in the lake, and I can't convince anyone to let me into their home for a few minutes...I traded one nightmare for another." cursed Anza. Not a second later, her stomach rumbled, and she winced from the empty pain that came with it. "It's getting worse...I guess I should get something…" A goal in mind, she turned left at the soonest possible moment, the small path widening into a busy street. Keeping her head down, she walked alongside the other villagers, who didn't even give her a second look. Soon, the bloodied girl spotted a fruit stand, and without anyone noticing, she vanished, took an apple, and jumped up onto the rooftops. Sitting down with her legs crossed, she took a bite, but just as fast as her hunger came, it left her, finding herself simply staring at the stolen food. "What...have I become? I just...stole from someone who's probably working hard to make sure his family gets what they need...Shisui-sensei and Itachi-sensei would be so disappointed in me...mom and dad would…" A cold feeling spread from her heart, and her shoulders fell. "...right...mom and dad don't care. They never cared…" Anza's grip on the apple tightened, and she threw it down at the civilians below, barely missing someone's head. Before they could turn to her and start yelling, she got up and started traversing the tiles. "I can't believe I never saw it before that day...I lived a lie. I...I trusted and loved them unconditionally, and this is how they repaid me...they probably don't even miss me...how could I have been so blind?" She let out a deep sigh. "I should go just go to sleep...it's getting a little dark anyway...I just hope it isn't going to be like all the other times I've tried..." Dropping down into another out of the way alley, she cleared a spot with her foot, and laid down on the dirt, curling up into a ball and closing her eyes. Almost instantly, the area around her changed to dark greys and blacks, and she woke up screaming, with sweat running down her brow. Rapidly checking her surroundings, she leaned back onto the wall once she considered herself safe. 'It was just a nightmare...just...a nightmare...I guess I'm not sleeping tonight, either…' Anza got up, and started walking again, barely lifting her feet off the ground like she was earlier.

As she and the rest of them followed her around, Mito couldn't help but shake her head at how dejected her twin looked. 'Even after killing those that hurt her and freeing herself from them, they still have a hold on her in the form of nightmares...she won't ever get a good night's sleep without medicine again. I wish there was something I can do, but all of this has already played out...I can only watch as she suffers.'

* * *

For the next couple days, they watched her mindlessly trek all around the village, and like the memory before, Anza's mood continuously deteriorated as time dragged on and she went without a wink of sleep. She would go through multiple bouts of depression in a single day, wondering if anything in her life would get better or if she would ever see her teachers and friends again, starving herself in the process by eating only the tiniest amounts. Eventually it started to become too much for the young girl, and she broke down in a fit of tears next to a run down, abandoned building, graffiti adorning its sides. "I...I...I don't...I don't know what to do anymore…" She fell to her knees, and fell sideways onto the wall. "I'm done...I'm done t-trying...there's no reason too. I c-can't live like this...I don't want to steal for f-food...I don't want think about my p-parents...my h-home...all it makes me feel is s-sadness and _(sniff)_ pain. I'm t-tired of the pain..." Despite the discomfort, Anza covered her eyes with her bad hand, and for the first time in a long time, she openly weeped, letting all the pent up despair out for the next few minutes. When she was done, she shifted into another position, letting her back rest on the building. "Mom...dad...why did you even have me if this was what you were going to do to me? Was...was I anything to you? At all? Or were all those years really...nothing, and I was just too young to see it? I thought...I thought you loved me...but you really were just pretending, huh? I was a project to you...a project you didn't care about, only mildly interested in where it went…" Her gaze shifted to the left, and partially buried in the dirt was a small piece of glass, most likely from the shattered window above her. "...well, I have some news for you…" She dug it out, and was a little happy to see it was sharp enough for what she had planned. "...I am not your plaything...this _world's_ plaything...with this, I'm going to show you...only I control my fate...not anyone else." As Anza prepared to slice open her right wrist, someone had the audacity to slap her hand, sending the glass flying through the air. "What the…"

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" She looked up, and saw a dark-skinned girl in clothes just as filthy as hers, with amber-eyes and mint-green hair, looking down at her with ire in her face. "Well?!"

"Well...I _was_ just trying to kill myself…"

"Why?! That's stupid!"

"Stupid? How?"

The girl tilted her head. "How can you NOT know that it's stupid? Killing yourself doesn't do anything for you!"

"...so?"

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Let me tell you something...it's entirely useless to end your own life."

"Says who?"

"Says _me_."

Anza frowned. "You don't even know what I'm going through, so back off. Leave me alone, and forget you ever saw me."

"But I do! I overheard some of what you said, and we're in the same boat! We both don't have parents, and we both don't have homes!"

"Wait...you're an orphan?"

"If that means 'I have no parents', then yeah." The new comer moved to Anza's side, and sat down next to her. "You feel as if the whole world is against you, huh? That it would be easier to just lie down and hope for the end."

The Fourth's daughter was taken aback at the accurate assumption. "Y-yeah...how did you know?"

"Because recently...that's been my life. Everywhere I go, people sneer at me, throw rocks at me, no one wants me in their stores even when I find some money, and some even try to corner me so they can kill me."

"W-why?"

"They think I'm a monster, when I'm not...but they don't see it that way. They only want me to die…" For a second, her eyes took on a sad shine, but it was replaced with determination. "...but that's why I won't. If I live, it shows that no matter what they think of me, I'm not letting them get to me. If I die, it means they get what they want, and I won't give them that." She turned to look Anza in the eye. "So I _do_ know what you're going through. If you want to get back at the ones who hurt you, then don't kill yourself. Stay alive, and show that you're stronger than what they think." The girl got back up, and began to walk off…

"Wait!" The mint-haired orphan stopped, and looked back, only to jump a bit when she saw Anza right behind her. "D-do you mind if I come with you?"

"Um...if it'll help you, sure. But how...how did you get up so fast?"

"Practice."

"...liar...but I'll take it for now." They continued walking down the barren streets, and after a few seconds, the girl remembered something. "By the way...I'm Fu. What's your name?"

"Its…" Suddenly, everything froze, and the memory started to blur over.

"Inoichi...what's happening?!" asked Kushina.

"We're cutting to another memory!"

"What?!"

"I was right! All that she's showing are negative memories! When she met Fu, her life changed, and she became happy for a time, so she's set it so that'll jump to the next negative experience in this area!" The buildings melted away, and the ground soon changed into a grey-ish color. Similar colored walls replaced the open air, and a distinct pink light shone over where Anza was standing. The fuzziness vanished, and they saw what was causing the light...it was the nine-year old, covered in a three tailed, blood red cloak. In her undamaged hand was a young man with long, dark brown hair who wore a light yellow kimono over a turquoise cardigan, and a red scarf adorned his shoulders. Behind them were two raised stones, one empty and the other with a barely breathing Fu lying on top of it, and three shinobi with the Takigakure headband split between the sides of the stones, slowly being crushed by the demonic chakra.

"Sorry Shibuki...it all ends here. I can't let you live...not when you've done so little to help Fu. She was your chosen jinchuuriki, and yet all you did was show up in her life every now and then, making sure she's still alive."

"I-I know...I tried...to keep her s-safe...but like all the o-others before her, they can't see the girl that she is...no one will l-listen to my pleas for her...but m-maybe...her life is going to get better, now." he barely wheezed out, Anza's hand clamped down on his throat with an iron grip.

"Damn right it is. I'm getting her out of here."

He smiled. "I'm g-glad...that she met someone like you...you'll be able to protect her...where I couldn't. P-please...take care of her."

"...I will." Using her new found strength, she crushed his neck, which inadvertently caused the tails to tighten, instantly killing her other hostages. "Doesn't matter...I need to grab Fu, and go." Letting her tails retract, she went over to her downed friend, kneeling next to her. "Hey...how do you feel?"

Fu weakly laughed. "Terrible...I can't feel my everything...is this what dying feels like?"

"I don't know, but I hope you won't find out...no, I KNOW you won't find out. You're strong, Fu. Just hang in there, and if you see a light, don't go towards it. Otherwise, I'll have to drag you back down from heaven myself, and not even Kami will stop me."

"Heh...sounds good...hey, what's going on with your hair?"

"My...hair?"

"Yeah...it's changing color…it's pretty..."

Anza immediately grabbed a piece of her dark red locks, and Fu was right...the blood that had caked her hair for who knows how long was being burnt off, revealing the true, snowy nature of it. 'Shit...everyone's going to recognise me...I'm going to have to throw them off. Good thing we already planned this out.' "Uh...it's nothing. Don't worry about it." She moved her arms under Fu, and lifted her up bridal style. "Alright, Fu...we're getting out of here. You and I...we're going to see the world, but we still have a few things to do before we leave. No one can follow us, so be patient, okay?"

"Okay...I'll just...take a nap…you're so warm now..."

She smiled a bit. "Good." 'It'll save you from seeing what's going to happen, anyway…' Fu nestled into Anza a little more, and in only a few seconds she was already snoring as the Nanabi's chakra flowed around her. Nodding to herself, Anza turned to the exit, and made a break for it, becoming a red blur. She passed two guards that had no idea what had transpired once Shibuki left them, and jumped onto the roofs, continuing to run to her first destination...the aviary. Once spotting it, she let her 'sister' down for a second, and formed the tiger seal. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" She spat a much larger fireball than normal at where she assumed the birds were, due to large open space, and when it got there, it exploded with far more power than she thought it would, practically destroying the entire top half of the building. 'Wow...this power...it's incredible...is this the same strength that Mito could someday use? I feel like nothing can stop me now...no, Anza...you just need to get out of here, not kill everyone who's hurt Fu.' As soon as she picked up the orange-eyed girl, shinobi swarmed around her, having heard the explosion from all over Takigakure. "Damn...I thought I'd have a little more time than that…"

One of the responders, a woman, was left stunned at seeing the culprit. "What the...a...little girl?" She looked at the now destroyed aviary. "She caused...that? Who...what are you?"

"A jinchuuriki...yours...but that doesn't matter, does it? Since I'm the one with this strength, and the fact the aviary's destroyed, you have no choice but to pin me as the suspect, right?"

"Uh….right…?"

"Of course I'm right...but you can't stop me. I'm leaving, and there's nothing you can do to stop it!" Reacting to her underlying anger, her tails lengthened and swatted the ninja away like flies, sending them crashing through buildings. 'Again...they moved on their own...I didn't tell them to do anything, and yet they crushed those shinobi at the same time as I killed Shibuki, and now they made me a clearing...awesome.'

"Ugh...someone, get the Hero Water! And sound the alarm!"

'Shit! I have to hurry!' Anza bolted, but everywhere she went, shinobi came out of the walls, weapons drawn. "Grrr….get out of my WAAAAAAY!" She literally roared, sending a powerful shockwave through the air, causing much of the surrounding area to shatter and break. She couldn't stop to gawk at the destruction, she could be swarmed by jonin at any second, so she marched on. Taki's loyal defenders desperately tried to end the chase, but no matter what, the new jinchuuriki repelled them easily with her shroud, tails smashing into anyone and anything, and using roars that devastated the landscape and dispersed their jutsus. It was like…

...she really was unstoppable.

Nothing they did worked, so in the end, she crossed the bridge and made it to the large tree in the center of the village, going through the roots to find a pavilion in the center, with her quarry on a podium towards the back. 'Finally…time to destroy it.' A tail obeyed her will, and slammed down onto the bottle of water, sending it's contents all over the small wooden structure. 'Now we can go...if I can get through them all, we can finally leave this place behind...and I can start my new life.' Anza went back, but when she exited the tree, she found a large group of shinobi waiting for her. 'Damn it...there are too many for me to simply run around...I don't have a choice anymore...I have to fight them...I have to use the Sharingan!' Her amethyst eyes turned crimson and cracked, unknowingly becoming her Mangekyo once again, and before the shinobi could spout some nonsense like 'come in quietly', she put Fu down again, launched herself onto them, and started a brawl with the entire force. Using her extraordinary eyes and new chakra, she outpaced nearly all of her unprepared adversaries, cutting a bloody swath that stained that land. And as she fought, she felt the same feeling as when she killed the bandits...ecstasy, and deep down...she knew why. It was the same reason why she killed Shibuki...they never did anything for the person she cared for, the one reason she was still alive...and justice was at hand. So she didn't stop after killing one, or two, or three...once she saw red, she didn't _want_ to stop. It was only when she stopped one from getting close to Fu did she snap out of it, and decided that she had to go, or else she'd be pulled into another rage. Anza jumped back to the former jinchuuriki's side, and formed the 'tora' seal once again, spewing a torrent of flame to make them disperse. It worked, and she flung her friend over her shoulder so she still had one arm to use. On the run again, she continued to avoid the soldiers to the best of her ability, but inevitably, she had to stop a few times to fight them off, using her brand new cloak as her weapon. As a consequence, shinobi, homes, businesses, and civilians alike got smashed and crushed under her wide-ranging attacks, but she couldn't feel remorse...not yet. Eventually, she made it to the only exit she and Fu found, and it was heavily guarded. 'I only have one shot...everything is riding on this...I can't fail...I...can't...fail!' Leaping over them, she pooled as much of her borrowed chakra as she could into her lungs, and roared one final time, but before it could reach the shinobi, time froze again, and this time there was no fuzziness.

"I think this one's done as well." commented Asura.

Mito nodded. "Yeah...but there really wasn't anything 'negative' after the jump, at least from my senses. The only thing I felt was a faint anger, like she was suppressing it."

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "It doesn't have to be completely 'negative' to be considered negative, Mito. For all we know, she regrets killing the people she did. Here, anyway."

"She does. I remember that before she fought me the first time, she said that she was sorry for this day, as many innocents lost their lives...and I'd agree with her, but then again, one innocent death is too many to me." remarked Minato, and with nothing else to say, they went on to the next memory.

* * *

Once their guide through Anza's mind broke through the next wall, they found themselves in another heavily forested area, with cracked trees all around them. In a clearing not too far away from them, there were three wooden posts, with a familiar silver haired jonin, a blonde, and two raven haired genin in front of them. "W-we're in Konoha…" mumbled Sasuke.

"A-and is that...us?" Sasuke nodded at the orange-wearing twin's question, and they were the first to get over there to see when exactly this took place.

"Why are we at the training grounds, Kakashi-sensei? I thought you said we could take the day off if we wanted to." asked a younger Mito.

"Oh, you can still take the day off, it's just that I figured all of you would like a present."

"...if it's _Icha Icha_, mom's going to kill you, and no one will be able to find the body."

A bead of sweat ran down Kakashi's face. "I am _completely_ aware of her hate for the series, trust me...and no, it's not that. I wouldn't give it to children, anyway."

"Then what is it?" jumped in Sasuke.

"Better be some goddamn ryo…" grumbled Menma.

He turned to her. "What is with you and money?"

"What is with you and tantos?"

"Hey, it's what I learned kenjutsu with!"

"And money keeps me on the other side of the iron bars."

"...good point."

The Fourth's student coughed into his hand. "If you two ladies are done with your squabble…" The Uchiha looked miffed at being called a girl, but he shut up alongside the disguised Anza. "Going back to Menma's suggestion...no, it's not money, either. It's better."

"...I don't believe you."

He sighed. "Maybe I should just get to the point…" Kakashi dug into his jacket pockets, and dug out three things, all identical in appearance. Each one had all four of them in it: Kakashi in the back, Menma on the left, Mito in the middle, and Sasuke on the right. "I got copies of the group picture we took two days ago." The older man went up to them, and handed all of them their own.

"Oh, cool! I've been wondering if we'd get this!" Mito hugged her brother figure. "Thanks!"

"Yeah, this is nice, sensei. From now on, we'll always be able to remember that we were in a team together." said the only male genin, getting his teacher to chuckle at their combined appreciation.

"It's nothing, really…"

"...yeah, 'nice'." bitterly spat Menma, getting them all to turn to her, and Mito to tilt her head.

"You don't like it?" she asked.

"Oh, sure, besides the fact I can't see it, it's a _lovely_ picture. All that black goes a long way." Her teammate winced at the sarcasm, and the 'blind' girl waved the gift in front of her face. "Let me ask you something, Kakashi-sensei...what am I supposed to do with this? I can't see what's on it, so what's the point of giving me one?"

"I know you can't see it, and that you don't really need something like this, but I was hoping that you'd treat it like...say...a hat or a knife given to you by someone important to you before they had to leave or died. A way to remember our time together as a team besides just memories."

"...oh." She rubbed her neck. "Sorry...it's just that I...I haven't been given anything in...a long time, and with my blindness, it seemed inconsiderate of you to give me a picture, but now I understand." Menma bowed her head. "Again, I apologize…"

"It's fine, Menma. I kind of figured that I'd need to explain myself if I were to give you a copy, so no harm done." The black wearing orphan nodded, and turned away, walking off.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Kurama's jinchuuriki.

"Away. I've had a headache all day, and because I kind of...got a little agitated, it's gotten worse. So, if we're done here, I'll be going." Hearing nothing from her sensei, she vanished, reappearing in a spot she knew was far away from Training Ground Three and Konoha. 'Menma' took a breath, and sat down next to a tree, under it's shadow. 'No one's near me...it's safe…' Using her free hand, she unbound the bandages around her eyes, and let them fall down onto her lap, revealing the violet gems she kept hidden from the world. 'I want to see it...just once…' Anza brought up Team Kakashi's picture, and immediately, her gut twisted at the sight she saw. 'That's really...me? And that's...Sasuke and Mito? It's...it's been so long since I've actually seen them...they haven't really changed...but me…' The vendetta-driven pre-teen's vision began to swim as emotions she tried to hide from her teammates slowly broke through the cracks in her mask, and covered her mouth with her other hand. 'This girl...the person in this picture...I should be in it, but...it isn't...me...my sister…my best friend…' Anza squeezed her eyes shut, but it couldn't stop the dam from breaking. 'They...they don't even know who they're talking to...who they're wanting to know more about...who I _am_...and it hurts...it hurts so much...I have to pretend that I never knew them...that I don't really know what they look like...that I can't look at this picture...I want to tell them...I want to let them know I'm not dead...but I can't...they'll...they'll hate me utterly and completely when I do what I came here to do...but no matter what, that's what's going to happen...damned if I do, damned if I don't...damn it...damn...it…' Her muffled cries echoed throughout the forest, but they started to quieten when everything began getting cracks in it, like when Inoichi broke the walls. The cracks widened and spread, and finally everything around them crumbled into nothing, revealing a new forest, one with trees as large around as the Academy.

"It's...it's done already? I would have thought tha-"

*CRASH….CRASH….CRASH…* The sounds of heavy footsteps interrupted the Uchiha, violently shaking the trees from the force of the impacts. Not long after, three figures emerged from the shadows...Son Goku, Isobu, and Chomei.

"**Humans...why am I not surprised you've found a way into Anza's mindscape?"** commented the beetle.

The ape snarled. "**You are not welcome here. You never were. Why are you trespassing on grounds you do not own?"**

Minato stepped up. "To wake Anza up."

"**And who are you to say she should or not? Do you not realize she wants nothing to do with you? Why can't you just leave her alone? Haven't you done enough to your 'daughter'?"**

His hands clenched at how the biju said 'daughter'. "I know I have no right to even see her after all I've failed to do for her...but believe it or not, I still care for her, _we_ still care for her, and we want to save her from this path...from death. So please...let us see her."

All three of them shook their heads. "**No. She's our friend too, and we will protect her with everything we have. She saved **_**us**_ **from being weapons, we're not about to let you hurt her again. We're not as strong as Kurama, even together, but we can't let you take a single step forward."** declared the Sanbi, and in front of each of their faces, purple balls started to materialize.

"Stop!" shouted Asura, and at the sound of his voice, the Bijudamas faded.

"**A-A-Asura?! You're...you're real?!"** exclaimed the monkey.

"Yes!"

"**But...how?!"**

"I'll explain at a different time, but right now, DON'T ATTACK THEM! I think I have a way to make everyone happy!"

The three brothers glanced at each other, and ultimately decided to relax a bit. "**Alright...none of these people would know what you look like or sound like besides the tiny blonde...we'll trust you. What is your suggestion?"** asked Chomei.

"I want to talk to Anza. Alone. Guys, you must see it...who she's becoming. I just want to stop her from giving in completely to the anger and hate...I don't want her to become what my brother became."

For several seconds...dead silence. The trio of biju didn't say a word or move a muscle, and on Son's face they could see he was truly mulling over what he proposed. Finally, the most powerful of them nodded. "**Alright...we'll let you see her. You're right...ever since she started training to kill her mother and father, her heart has slowly but steadily become...darker, and when she received the news that Haruka, Akira, and Noboru were imprisoned...I felt it become colder than Haku's ice. Nothing we did could convince her to think things through...she simply ignored us. She never ignores us...if you can help her, just a little bit at least, then go on."**

The Sage's son smiled. "Thank you." He turned to the rest of group. "I'll be back when I'm done. Just sit here, and don't do anything to provoke my brothers, okay?" Like the biju before them, his reincarnation and company nodded, and he was off, trying to find a single teen in an endless forest. 'Will take a little longer, that's all…' It took a minute, but while he was wandering, the foliage started to thin, and from the edges of the trunks, he could see something that looked man-made, so he went towards it, and when he saw what exactly it was, he stopped in surprise. It was the same, two story, modest looking wooden building she called home for the first nine years of her life. 'So...even after all this time, that place is still important to her…' Asura continued, and entered without knocking, finding the inside to also be exactly the same as it was in the real world...except there were multiple pictures on the walls, some even covering them so completely that he couldn't see the wallpaper behind them. Each had something different, like a normal one, but these didn't have a single one with Anza in it. Instead, they seemed to be from _her_ perspective, as a few had images of her father, her mother, or her sister, and some had two black haired men, one with tear-troughs under his eyes, and one with spiky, almost unkempt hair. 'These must be her other memories...she's made this house become a memory palace...that means that maybe I can find out who's responsible for her bombing of the Academy.' Forging onward, he made it up the stairs, and followed the trail of memories to her and Mito's room...and he found what he was looking for too, right next to the door. 'He matches the profile that Indra told me...if it's the same guy, I have to get her out of his hands...the world might be at stake.' The Otsutsuki carefully opened the door, and spotted the white-haired girl, wrapped up under the sheets of her old bed and facing the wall. "Hello, Anza…"

"Go away."

"...yep, just what I expected you to say…" He stepped into the room, and closed the door. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going anywhere. I just want to talk to you."

"And you won't get anything. I know that you came here with a Yamanaka, as they are the only ones I know of who can enter a person's mind in Konoha, and if you came here with a Yamanaka, that means you came here on the Hokage's orders, so I have nothing to tell you."

"But I'm not on his orders. I came here on my own accord...under my own power."

"Impossible."

"And yet, I'm standing here, right now."

"...you're really not going to leave, are you?"

"Nope."

Anza sighed, and threw the blankets off, switching to a position that could face him. "Fine. What do I have to do to get you out of my head?"

"Just talk to me for a minute." Asura moved to Mito's bed, and sat down on it. "Anza...it's time for you to wake up and stop hiding."

"Hiding? Who says I'm hiding?"

"Me. I know you're scared of what's going to happen to you, but you can't stay in here forever. There are people worried for you out there...people who want to see you."

She scowled. "Scared? I'm not scared of anything."

"You're lying. Someone who isn't scared of their fate wouldn't hide inside their own mind."

His descendent opened her mouth to retort, but shut it, and looked to the ground in defeat. "Okay, I'm lying. There's…_(sigh)_ there's no reason to lie anymore. Even though I tried to make peace with my eventual death, I still feel...afraid."

"Why?"

"Because...I don't want to die. All my life, I've been fighting for my survival, but now, after all my training, I've lost all control I had over it. It's terrifying, to have everything ripped out of your hands, so I came in here, in the hopes that I could have some measure of control over my last days..."

"...but it didn't really help, did it? So you simply...gave up."

Anza sighed again. "Pretty much. Every time I walked around here, I saw my students, my daughter, my last two friends...and I know that it's because of me that they're in jail. I felt guilty, and not worth my life, and that's when I curled up under those blankets...until you came along and bothered me enough to make me get up."

He chuckled. "Sometimes that's how it has to happen."

"Maybe...who are you, though? Why do you even want to speak to me?"

"I'm not important...just someone who likes to help others."

"Just a good samaritan, huh? I find that hard to believe. You look like a monk, or some kind of priest."

"You're not that far off...but as I said, I'm not important., but we've kind of gone off track. Why I'm here...is to see if you'll wake up. Will you? It would be better than sitting in a sweet illusion waiting for death, at least if you asked me. Is that how you want to go out?"

Anza's face fell. "I don't know...I know that if I wake up, I'll see them again...my old family…" She put her hands onto her head, and just sat there...weighing the pros and cons of the action. After a couple minutes of that, she got up, and started to pace around the room, before finally looking up at the ceiling. "Alright...I'll do it. If I'm going to die, might as well take it with my last shred of dignity."

Despite the grim way she said it, he smiled at the fact he convinced her to see the sun again...figuratively. "Good. Now...if you get free, please, come find me. I'll be happy to talk to you whenever you need me."

"Okay...I'll do that. Thank you."

"No problem. I'll see you on the other side." Anza nodded, and she closed her eyes. Instantly, their surroundings started to bleach, and the building began to dissolve around them. Next...

...she opened her eyes, and woke up.

* * *

**A.N.: I am truly sorry for the wait...everything about this chapter was fighting me until the end. I didn't know if I should have split this up into multiple chapters, so I didn't...which increased the length quite a bit. Anyway...I hope it was okay despite the wait...now I'm going to take a few days to recollect myself...**

**Alexc123: Well...I don't know how enlightening it was, but I did want to show just a little bit on how she became who she is. And yes...it was Tobi. Bastard messes with everything...**

**Guest (Review about Ch. 35): It's good to see that, even though I'm nearing chapter sixty, that little twist still gets people. I wonder though...when did you first suspect Anza was Menma? I mean, besides the rapid replacement...I thought I did a pretty good job of hiding the truth.**


	60. Chapter 60

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 60**

"She's awake?!" yelled a certain young Uchiha, who was way too excited...or anxious, no one could really tell the difference with her...to remain sitting down on the couch once Mito and the rest of her family told her of the news.

Her clansman frowned, but nodded nonetheless. "Yes...but Haruka, _no_...you can't see her right now."

"WHY?!"

Sasuke winced. 'Why did you have to pick _that_ up from Anza? If she comes back to us, I'm going to pray that Haruka doesn't go through a rebellious phase, or else my ears are going to burst…' "Because we think she needs some space right now. Give her time to process that she won't just be able to hide behind her thoughts anymore, and all that. You should be able to understand that."

"Well I don't care! I'm going!" Haruka started to stomp off, but her 'grandma' closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the collar, lifting her off the ground as she did. "Hey! Let me go!" She flailed in place as hard as she could, but the Uzumaki's grip was unwavering.

"No. You're going to stay here. Besides what Sasuke said, none of us know what's going to happen when she sees you. Either she's going to cry tears of joy, or she's going to do her best to tear herself out of the bindings keeping her in place to take you far away from Konoha, and I know from experience...if you know or believe that your child is in danger or hurt, you'll power through anything, even through death's hold."

"So I can't see her at all?!"

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best at this point...if it was any different, we'd gladly let you…" Kushina looked at Akira and Noboru. "...and the two of you, as well, see her." The child in her hand growled at the unfairness of it all, but stopped struggling, so she let her go.

"And how are you sure you can convince her to change without us, her students? We're probably the only ones she'll believe."

"We aren't, Haruka...our relationship with her has strained even more thanks to the fight...but you three are our last resorts if nothing we do works at all."

The little girl switched her gaze to the ground and pouted, clearly unhappy about her situation, but stopped asking anymore. "Fine. If anyone needs me, I'll be stabbing the tree in the backyard a million times." She walked away with that, and the two other apprentices got up as well.

"We should go with her. Don't want her to sneak off to sensei while we're not looking, right?" joked the tachi-user, and they followed after the young killer.

"Okay, three down...where's our teammate? She should be here somewhere…" said Mito, only to hear someone come up from the hallway and stop at the doorway to the living room.

"So I WAS right! You're back!" Fu made her way inside, and plopped down on the couch where Haruka was just sitting. "The only ones who enter this house are us, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Mito's parent's. So, how'd it go?"

The blonde sighed, and finally took a seat next to her. "Depends on how you look at it. On one hand, she's up again…"

"That's great!"

"...but on the other, we saw a few...things. None of them pleasant."

"...I was right, wasn't I?"

Sasuke nodded, and sat on the other side of his green-haired friend. "Yeah...Taki was part of those walls...but Mito is wrong about one thing."

"What?"

"There was one good thing in all those bad memories...we saw you save her."

"Really?"

He nodded again. "Yes, but we didn't get to see it all. Immediately after you two met, she jumped ahead to your escape, and she was a lot different. More...assertive, in control of herself, and ready to do what needed to be done...a warrior." The soon-to-be Uchiha clan head chuckled. "What the hell did you do to her to change her so much?"

Fu laughed a little. "Honestly, I don't really know, but it took awhile. See, she didn't want to live the life of a scavenger like me. To steal food and water was how we survived, but she didn't like that...at all...so I did all the hard work for a time. Eventually, I got angry at her for that, because if she was going to be following me around and living just a few feet away from me, I wanted her help providing for us, but as I said, she didn't want to steal, so we got into a fight. I..._think_ that was when everything started to change, as from then on she helped me in my heists to the point where we didn't have to do them for days. Sometimes I wasn't even part of them! I never understood how she could collect so much food in so little time...but I realized what she was after I woke up, which by then we left Taki long behind. No normal kid could pull a fast one on some of the finest Takigakure could produce, only someone like her, with real training, with _her_ eyes, and a large amount of biju chakra, could get out alive. Probably didn't help that they never had to deal with something like that on a regular basis."

"You're probably right on that. Either way...I don't think I've said this to you yet, maybe Mito, Kushina, and Minato have, but not me...thank you. It's because of you that she's still even _here_. We never would have known that she survived that fall from the cliff...none of what's happened would have happened. Everything could have been so different...but thanks to you, we have been given this..._last_...chance. You made all of this possible, even if you didn't know it would happen."

Fu couldn't stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks. "Oh...uh...uh...y-you didn't have to...I just...did what I thought was right, back then…I hated it when people like me gave up…"

"No, I didn't, but I wanted to. We owe her survival to you, so not saying a simple 'thanks' wouldn't sit right with me."

"Well...you're welcome...um…" She shook her head to try to clear up the blush, and snapped her fingers. "Oh! About Anza...how was she doing when she woke up?"

Kushina frowned a bit. "About as good as you'd expect. She looked at us with contempt, especially after looking at all of us...she must have thought Asura was the only one who made his way into her mind, and might be a little miffed that she was tricked."

"...and who the hell is Asura?"

"A man living in my head." chipped in Mito.

"...how?"

"Reincarnation."

"...I feel like I've been left out of the loop…"

"Everyone was."

"...nice to know I wasn't the only one who didn't know. Anyway...when are we going to put Plan: 'Get Anza back onto our side' into motion?" She directed the question to the Fourth's wife, who placed a hand on her chin.

"Tomorrow, I think. Now that she's not in her mindscape, Minato is trying to figure out the best course of action while he's back at work, and we'll know more when he comes home."

"Good. Life...just hasn't been the same without her."

"I know, Fu...I know...but it's all up to Anza...not us."

"But if she doesn't...it's all over for her, and any hopes we had will be thrown out the window." softly said Sasuke, and for the rest of the day, everyone was a little more quiet and reserved.

* * *

When Mito got out of the house the next day, she decided against going straight home. Now that her sister was brought out of her self-induced coma, her impulsiveness swayed her to take an unplanned detour...a detour that lead her to the spiralling staircase to the void. 'I have no idea if I should be here right now...dad said I should wait until later, after he's sent a few people in to see how she is, but...I can't shake this feeling…'

"Then go see her. Maybe you alone can bring her back to the light." said her human tenant.

'Why do you say that?'

"No reason, it's just a hopeful thought." With that useless conversation out of the way, the jinchuuriki kept on descending, and before long she touched the bottom. Using her ability to pinpoint fellow jinchuurikis, she weaved through the winding, abysmal halls, and found Anza's cell, with a lone Kakashi staring into the window.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Had the same feeling I did?"

The jonin pulled himself away from Anza, and turned to Mito. "I'm pretty sure we all share the same feelings when it comes to Anza."

"Right…" She moved next to him. "So, um...why exactly are _you_ here?"

"I asked sensei if I could be her… 'warden', I think is the best word. He agreed, so now I sit, watch, and make sure Anza gets the essentials, like food and water...but she doesn't like to eat them on her own. I had to actually stuff it into her mouth and forcibly make her chew. I can't believe she didn't try to bite my fingers off, but maybe she figured that it wouldn't do anything for her in the long run."

"Have you asked why she wouldn't eat?"

"No...but why would she? Her last attempt at killing us failed, she's completely subdued, and the last four people she cared about is, in her mind, imprisoned. She probably just wants...everything to end."

"Maybe she does...but she'll get out of it. We'll make sure of it." Mito left his side, and went to the steel door, hand already on the handle.

"You're going to try to talk to her?"

"Well, yeah. Have to start somewhere, right?" He couldn't deny that, and she entered the dimly lit room, closing the door once she was on the other side. "Anza…"

"...Mito."

Unfortunately for said girl, everything she had on her mind before seeing her twin face to face left her, so all she had were blanks. "Um...how-"

"What do you want?" The snow-haired girl suddenly snapped, getting her twin to frown.

"Geez, you don't have to be so rude…"

"I have every right to be."

The blonde sighed. "Yeah...I guess you do…" Mito took a few steps forward, and sat down cross-legged. "I know you don't really want to see me…"

"What I want doesn't matter."

"...but I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"And now, you've seen. I'm stuck in place, unable to move much more than a few centimeters. Minato was smart in how either he designed these, or chose these from multiple options. There's even a seal on them that separates my chakra from me. I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to."

"Wait...you don't want to escape?"

"...no, not really."

"Why?"

"I don't feel the need to...not when I've lost everything yet again."

"But you haven't…"

"Only tell me that when _you_ have lost as much as I have." Anza lifted her head up, and stared straight into Mito's soul. "Enough of this 'small talk'. I know how this goes...you try to break down my barriers, and then attack with questions. There's no need for that...I'll answer anything you ask to the best of my ability."

"I'm not here to interrogate you, Anza...but now that you've reminded me, I _do_ want to ask you a few things."

"That's interrogation."

"An interrogation is a formal thing."

"Then what is this?"

The frown returned to Mito's face. "I wasn't sent here by dad, I came here because I wanted to visit you. Nothing else."

"I have a hard time believing that, with your position...but are you going to start or not? I'm not getting any younger."

"Fine...if you want me gone that badly, I will." She propped her elbows onto her knees, and rested her head on her hands. "You know that I was in your mindscape, don't you?"

"Yes...you're going to ask about the safeguards I put up, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Those walls...what was the purpose of them? Wouldn't it be more effective to place seals to keep people out?"

Anza chuckled. "Did your homework, did you?"

"Not really. I simply remember reading something in the fuinjutsu books about mental seals that help keep mind-readers out, but I don't think those walls were made from one those."

"And you'd be correct. I created them by thought, laced them with mine and biju chakra to strengthen them, and placed a specific memory behind them. I also set them so that you'd have to go through my own memories to get to the next memory, and that the space between the walls was only big enough to house the majority of the memory's area so that no matter where you went, you could see what was going on. Genius, huh?"

"Sure...but why only three?"

"Because three were enough."

"Not when you're trying to keep us out."

The Nanabi's jinchuuriki shook her head, as if she was disappointed in her sister's comment. "That's not what I was trying to do."

"...what?"

"You heard me. Those weren't meant to keep _you_ out...they were meant to keep _me_ in."

"...again...what?"

"If you took the time to actually think about it, you'd understand...but I'll save you the brain power and just tell you. I chose those three...because they housed the deepest and darkest emotions for me. The bandits...days...and days...of abuse, only fed the bare minimum so they could use me forever, and the ensuing...loss of control, and my first kills, fueled by anger I never thought I could feel. Takigakure...I was at the end of my rope, but right before I could let go, I was saved from death...then I killed my first civilians, people I didn't have any quarrels with, and maybe even a few children...I hate the fact I could do such a thing. And when we, as a team, gained our picture...that one...breaks my heart the most. The moment I laid eyes on it...the whole situation finally hit me. I was nobody in any of your eyes...but Menma was a different story. She was your friend, and you were hers, but Anza...me...I had…" She stopped looking at Mito, and let her head hang. "...no one. Even Fu didn't know who I was, or what my _name_ was...all because that's what I chose for my life...to wear all those different faces, all those different names...just so I could kill your parents...I almost revealed myself, so I could warmly embrace the three of you as the real me, but the need to kill them was far too great...and I gave into the desire." Anza lifted her head back up. "Anyway...as you can tell, I wouldn't want to feel those again, so I set them up as the perimeters in which I'd have to pass in order to wake up again, as for me, I'd have to watch each and every one of them before I could break myself out. A little consciousness diversion, and there was no way for me to escape my own prison without suffering needlessly more...that was, until you, Inoichi and the rest of you had to set food inside my head, breaking my perfect setup and allowing me to see this world once again."

"Well...that answers the question...by a lot…"

"Of course. As I said, I'd answer to the best of my ability."

"Seeing as you did with flying colors...I need an explanation."

"About what?"

"The bandits."

"...you saw the memory, what could I _possibly_ have to say on-"

"What I saw was different than what you said."

"...in what way?"

"In how you killed them. When you confided in me after you got drunk, you said you killed them silently, and quickly, but from the memory, you..._butchered_ them, even tormented them. Why would you hide that from me? I thought you trusted me at that time."

The whiskered missing-nin eyed the ground. "I did...but I couldn't risk it. If I told you the truth...the truth about me...I feared you'd run away."

"I would never!"

"You say that now, but back then...you were so much like how I remembered you, if just a little more mature thanks to my apparent death. So pure and innocent...you hadn't even killed a man yet...I could feel the horror and disbelief in your chakra whenever you saw me kill, or saw just how I left them when I was done. You were terrified of what I could do, and I didn't want you to know the real me...as I would have lost you, just like how I lost...our parents. I couldn't lose you...you were one of the only ones that reminded me of the good old days, where I never had to worry about if I was going to survive to see the next morning; where I never felt the pent-up anger in the back of my head, giving me the ability to get through the day...where I was me, once upon a time. Now...I'm just somebody that wears Anza's skin as my own to keep the jumbled pieces together."

"No...that's not true." Mito pushed herself up off the cold prison floor, and approached her twin, placing her hands on her shoulders. "You're still the same Anza I know. The only difference between then and now is that you have seen the world for how it is, both the good and the bad, and experienced things I never knew anyone could...and you've _survived_."

"Are you so sure about that? As far as I'm concerned...the Anza you knew died the moment she fell off that cliff, leaving me as her final...gift. I don't even have same thought process as she did...all I know is death, decay, and pure, unadulterated rage. All I know how to do is to kill, rampage, and destroy everything around me, no matter the cost of the lives that happen to be in my way."

She shook her head. "Anza, if that were true, you wouldn't have a friend, students, and someone who calls you her mom...you're not this unfeeling monster devoid of empathy and happiness. You still have a heart."

"But what's the point of having a heart if there's nothing left to fill it with? Akira, Daku, Haku, Noboru, and Haruka...they're gone, and without them, I had nothing but my primal urges...and that means kill...kill...kill...because that is what I had to do so I could live...kill all that try to kill me...but I failed, and now those feelings are just...gone...because there's nothing else I can do." Anza closed her eyes, and sighed. "Are we done? I want to be left alone...hopefully forever."

Mito, too, sighed, and let go of her. "Not yet...I still have one more question, then I'll be done for now."

"Fine...shoot."

"Do...do you honestly believe that we imprisoned your apprentices? Or...did you use that excuse to have an opportunity to fight and maybe kill mom and dad?"

"...yes, I do. With what I was shown...I can't see how there's any other explanation."

"...I...I thought so…" The jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi turned away from her twin, and made a beeline for the door. "I'm sorry for disturbing you...I'll...see you later." She left, and continued to stay on the move, not even giving Kakashi a glance. 'That didn't go as well as planned...she answered what I wanted, but her voice...it was like I was talking to Menma again, back when she was just entering the Academy...and she was right, too...when I looked at her eyes, I couldn't see anything...there wasn't a shred of emotion in them. It's...not right to see her like that...I'd rather her be yelling and spitting fire at me than just...not caring. Anza...I hope that one day you'll believe us...because we want nothing more than to see you like you once were...and we can't do that if you're dead.'


	61. Chapter 61

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 61**

Nothing. Blank. Empty. Useless. Tired. Sleep. Can't. Death. Nothing. Blank. Empty. Useless. Tired. Sleep. Can't. Death. A mad mantra that Anza continuously let go through her head so she had something to do while looking into the deceptively infinite room, the only reason she knew it was a far smaller space was because of the light supposedly dangling from above her bound body, casting a shine on almost every inch around her. If it wasn't on, she'd have no way of telling near from far...not like it matters to her, anyway. Everything she worked for, everything she wanted to be...everything was over, so why would she care if the cell was big or small, it served the same purpose...to hold her until the day she was to die, whether that be by the metaphorical axe or by old age. That was a truth she accepted a long time ago, from even before her so-called 'war' on her homeland, and nothing would change that fact, nothing _could_ change that fact, it was only a matter of _when_. Nothing. Blank. Empty. Useless. Tired. Sleep. Can't. Dea-

*Clink..._creeeeak_...clink*

At the sound of the cell door opening and closing, she lifted her head up just a bit to fill the mild curiosity that came with the noise, and spotted the former holder of the Nanabi, a wooden stool in hand. "...another. So I won't be left alone by you and your people."

"Nope. I've never left you alone, remember?" said Fu as she placed the portable seat in front of her adoptive sister, and sat on it.

"Yes, you have...when I went to Uzushiogakure. _Without_ you."

The dark-skinned kunoichi sheepishly smiled, and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh...right...I did, didn't I? Uh...is it okay if I say sorry again?"

"What do I care...you're not anyone I have any concern for."

"Well...I _was_. Before this whole thing...happened...we were practically inseparable. You cared for me, and I cared for you...as I know is still the truth."

"Then you know wrong. I don't care about you anymore...you turned out just like everyone else. You betrayed my trust. You, my sister, the person that I thought I had forged a bond with through all the shit we faced together...I could go the rest of my dwindling life never seeing you again."

Despite the inherently venomous nature of the insult, Fu noticed that it had no...life, no feeling, something Anza never was without, no matter what. 'I thought Mito was being melodramatic, but she was right...she speaks in monotone, with no fluctuation. It's creepy...there has to be a way to change that. There has to. Maybe if I were to...make her remember?'

"Silent...you're silent. Have you finally run out of words?"

"No, I haven't. I'm simply thinking."

"Something you haven't had much luck with in the past."

Fu laughed a little. "You're still as witty as ever when it comes to me and my screw ups."

"Someone has to keep track, with all that you've done."

"Heh...yeah...hey, remember that time we visited that village, the one with the messed up, painted over sign?"

"You mean the one that we had to leave in less than a day because of you?"

"Yes, that one! I wanted to get us some money, for...a home down the line, I think, so I tried to steal from that rich guy that was staying in that _big _house…"

"...and I had to bail you out, because you got caught by his bodyguard."

"Yep! I wasn't strong enough to fight him off, but you knocked that man right out cold with a single punch! And when we got away, you hit me over the head like you always did whenever you thought I did something stupid. 'You idiot, you don't do anything without me! What would have happened if I wasn't there?!'" She smiled. "You were so angry, but even though I was a little pissed with how you were yelling at me, it only reinforced what I thought...we had a connection, and it wasn't the one we shared with Chomei. We were family. Finally, after so long...I had someone I could consider as that. It made everything, from the rain, constant moving around, sores on my feet, and the bangs to the head...worth it."

Anza's brow furrowed slightly. "Why are you telling me something I know I've been through?"

"Because Sasuke...Sasuke told me a few things a while back. One of them was how much I helped you through such a difficult time, but...I don't know, I don't think what I did can compare to what you've done for me. _You_ gave me a much needed friend, _you_ got me out of the place we both hated and wanted to leave, _you_ protected me when I couldn't defend myself, _you_ were there when I needed you...and you made me realise how stupid I was." Fu glanced at the ground, and began to massage her left arm. "Back then, you were just so...so awesome. You could gather more food, you could fight, and you could move so fast...and I liked it. I had always scrounged for the tiniest morsels so I could survive...then you came along, and I didn't have to worry about stuff like that anymore. I didn't really have to do...anything, for the first time in forever, I could just let you do it, and as the days past and we weaved between towns hardly being noticed because of your intelligence and intuition, the feeling kept growing. 'Just let her handle things, you deserve a break' I told myself, and I came to truly believe it...until we made it to the ocean that lead to Uzushio. Everything...came to a head there. You thought I would come along and you'd teach me the shinobi arts, but I refused, saying I didn't need to, as you were there to keep bad things from happening to me, and you rebutted with something along the lines of 'I won't always be there'. I said that's not true, and eventually you just...left, shouting that you had to go, with or without me. Later, after I cooled off, I realised what had happened...I lost the only family I had ever had. So, I settled on a plan: when I met you again, as I knew I would, I'd do my best to make it up to you...but I forgot about the whole 'being able to handle things on my own' issue, and you reminded me yet again when we reunited for the first time. Twice I was stupid beyond all belief, and twice you showed me the truth. I'm a better person now because of you, and I can never repay you because of that."

"...hitting me with a sob story won't change what I think of you. Try all you want to make yourself sound so grateful, I know who and what you really are...you're just a parasite, who doesn't care what you do to others as long as it furthers your own gains. You took my love, and gave me nothing but pain."

Fu sighed. "It wasn't suppose to be a sob story...I guess you won't get it with words alone. I think I can fix that." The hoodie-wearing teen slid off the stool and got on her knees, becoming level with Anza. Scooting a little bit closer to her, Fu looped her arms around the prisoner's torso and putting her head right next to hers, pulling the other girl into her grasp, making Anza's eyes widen slightly. "I hope you can understand me now…"

'A...a hug? It's been...a long time since she's given me one...it's so warm…' For a split second, her fingers twitched inside their casts, as her natural reaction to feeling something like this, from _Fu_ nonetheless, was to return it, but she stopped herself before her arms tried to move on their own. 'No...this girl isn't the one I knew...or...who I thought I knew. To even attempt to return this action...would sicken me, and disgrace what little morals I have left.' "...why? Why are you pretending to be kind to me, when I know that you only want me to suffer?"

"Because that's not why I'm doing this, Anza. I don't want you to suffer...infact, it makes me want to cry, knowing that you're locked up in here and facing the possibility of an execution. I love you, you're my sister, for Kami's sake! And I love Minato and Kushina too, they're the parents I never had, but if they were torturing _your_ students, I would have been the first to jump in and do everything in my power to stop them. I would have freed them and traveled the globe in order to find you, so you could have them back, or I would have died trying. I know that your mistrust of your parent's and anyone close to them has made it hard for you to believe me, but I wouldn't have let something so horrendous happen, and I know you know that deep inside." Fu released her hold on the ex-Konoha genin, and pulled herself off the floor. "I think I'm going to go...it's hard to see you chained up like some kind of criminal. I don't think I can take it anymore." She looked away, and slowly walked towards the only exit, stopping just inches away. "Please...just...open your eyes, and think about what I've said, alright?" Then she was gone, letting the words sink into her friend's lonely prison.

'I want to believe you, Fu...I really want to believe that I'm wrong about you, but I can't ignore what Madara showed me...and knowing Minato, and how you were just living under the same roof as him, even becoming my replacement in Team Kakashi...I can't trust that what you're saying is the truth. Not when his words are so deeply rooted into your mind, and he wants me gone…' Anza closed her violet orbs for a minute, and went back to staring at the cold metal sheets lying under her, filling the silence left with Fu's absence with the same group of words she was reciting only a minute before so that she wouldn't go insane from the morbid anticipation of her final hours.

**-_a couple days later_-**

'It's been four days since sensei and the others woke Anza up, and still it's as if nothing has changed.' thought Kakashi as he made his way back to his post from a small journey on the surface, a rather large paper bag in hand. 'I would like to think that something that either Fu, or Mito, or even the people that sensei sent have said to her have gotten through to her, but when I look into that room, I don't see anything different. She still has that blank, almost bored stare, when she moves, she only moves her head, and even still she doesn't do it often, only when someone talks to her or I move it myself so I can get something into her stomach so she doesn't starve. I know they think and hope we can change her, but with each passing day, with each failed attempt, the chances of that happening get slimmer...and they're already paper thin.' He sighed, but continued his trek down the halls. It wasn't hard to find his student in the abyss, his nose easily could pick up on the stink that came with her not taking a bath or shower in days, and stopped at the window to look inside, like he always did, but this time, Kakashi shook his head at what he saw. 'It must be taking all her concentration to stay awake, but the bags under her eyes are just getting darker...it's not healthy to be awake for days on end...but what can I do? Hit her hard enough to knock her out? That'll only make her think that she's right, that I hate her…' The jonin pinched his nose. 'I'll think about this more in a bit. Right now, I need to feed her.' His objective clear, he waltzed into the snow-haired kunoichi's room, getting her to look up, stopping halfway upon spotting the bag.

"...feeding time, isn't it?"

"Yes. I can't let you go hungry."

"Yes you can. It would be so easy to."

"But I'm not going to do that."

"Of course not. I can't die before my execution. The people want to see their 'present day Madara' be cut down in front of them all."

Beneath his mask, he frowned. 'Sad thing is...she's not wrong. Every now and then, I can hear the whispers calling for her death...it's what made me want to take this job in the first place, because I don't know who else to trust...Guy, Asuma, and the others probably wouldn't hurt her, but the rest...I don't know.'

"I'm right, aren't I? You haven't replied."

He refocused. "I'm not going to lie to you, Anza. With you blowing up sensei's office and killing an Anbu, among other things, there are a lot of people who would be glad to see you gone." Kakashi moved forward, and sat down in front of her, using the stool that Fu so kindly forgot to take with her. "I'm not one of them, by the way. I like to think that there's still hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes, hope. Hope that _this_…" The cyclops pointed at her chains. "...won't be the rest of your life."

"Ha...that's a lie if I ever heard one. The only thing you hope of me is death, because I tried to kill your beloved sensei, the only living reminder you have of your team."

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "How do you know that the rest of my team is dead? Last I recall, I never called them by name, and I never had to take you, Mito, and Sasuke to the Memorial Stone."

"Do you really think that all I did while I wasn't in your sight was sit in the back alleys, waiting for your beck-and-call, or play with Haruka? No, I am not just going to sit around and let things happen, not when I had an agenda. I needed to know _what_ and _who_ exactly I could be dealing with, so I looked you, and quite a few others, up in the archives. Thanks to me being a genin _and_ having the Hiraishin, I could look at anything I wanted, even the 'off limits to genin' files. Kakashi Hatake, son of the Shiroi Kiba, Sakumo Hatake, and last surviving genin of Team Minato. The two who didn't make it...were Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara, who died on separate missions, with only _you_ witnessing, and remembering, their deaths." Anza finally made the effort to travel up his legs, and looked at his face. "It was right after Rin died that you were put into Anbu, where all records are either mysteriously gone, or blacked out...at least until you were reinstated into the normal forces, where you became the squeaky clean, comrade-loving type that you used to despise, if the facts about your relationship with other shinobi in your early years, especially with Obito, are anything to go by. I would have thought that, if anyone could understand me, it'd be you, as you're one of the few who have lost everything, and rebuilt yourself from nothing, like me, but instead...I guess you really haven't changed since childhood."

In response, he dug into the brown bag, and fished out a sandwich. "Maybe I haven't….maybe I have...but at this moment, I don't care. I have to take care of you, and that's what I'll do, so I'm sorry for this." Using his other hand, he grabbed his wayward student's jaw, and forced her mouth to open. He followed this up by making a corner of the small meal enter the opening, and pushed it closed, taking a bite out of it. Continuing the motion, he made her chew, and when he thought it was properly mulched up, Kakashi tilted her head back, letting the food slide down into her throat, where she had no choice but to swallow. For the next few minutes, he repeated the actions until there was nothing left in his hand, but his job wasn't done yet. Going back into the bag, he pulled out a bottle of water and uncapped it before making her take a nice, big sip, putting the water back right after. "There...you should be okay for the next few hours."

"Screw you...I didn't ask for any of that."

"No, but you _do_ need them in order to stay alive, and that's exactly why no matter what, you're going to get them."

"Fine...just know it would actually be a kindness if you stopped giving me food."

"Duly noted." Without another word, Kakashi just sat there, not making a single movement to get up and leave...which garnered Anza's attention the longer he stayed. A few seconds went by...then a few minutes...when she guessed that a half-hour had passed, she rose an eyebrow.

'Odd...he's usually gone by now...something isn't adding up.' "...well? Aren't you going to go back to the rest of your life? Why are you still here?"

"...I'm not entirely sure. I feel like I want to say something to you, but I don't really know what to say or how to phrase it. It's a nagging thought pressing down on my head..."

"So you figure that staying in here, with me, will bring something to mind?"

"...maybe."

She chuckled. "How idiotic...but go ahead and stay, then. It's not like I can make you leave anyway."

The older man nodded. "Thank you, even though you didn't mean it." Anza didn't respond, not even with a growl like he was half-expecting, but he didn't let that psych him out. 'Alright Kakashi…you need to figure out what to do. Maybe I should...talk to her, like Fu and Mito...but what can _I _talk to her about? I don't know her as well as the others, and even if I did, with what I've seen, it's like talking to a brick wall...nothing fazes her anymore. She's...stone cold…huh. Why do I feel this sense of...deja vu?' Suddenly, a chill ran up from his feet and through his body, all the while a single, very anger boy in the most un-ninja like jumpsuit appeared in his mind's eye. 'Right...only this time, things are reversed...and I'm him…actually...' Kakashi couldn't stop himself from chuckling at his train of thought.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing...I just realized how many things are similar between our teams. If I were to make parallels...you remind me most of myself, when I was around your age. We both have been praised as prodigies in our respective classes, even sharing the top spots, and if I recall correctly, you're personality is quite like mine, always cautious of what was around you, always watchful of any openings you could exploit, and always focused on the mission, with the same air of 'I can handle anything you throw at me'...but you had something I didn't...a will to ignore orders if the situation demanded it...like when I was trapped by Zabuza. But after that...things get tricky. Neither Mito or Sasuke really match either of my teammates...but I guess Obito would be the closest one to Sasuke. I mean, ever since you two were thrown into Team Seven, you had a little rivalry going, Sasuke trying to out do you in everything, but you always remained a step or two ahead...he must have realized on some level how much 'Menma' was like you, and that same need to beat you must have resurfaced after being buried for three years...and then you got Kubikiribocho. I remember the kenjutsu spars you had with him, and how much the need to win was plastered on his face while you looked rather happy, like that was what you wanted...to have the chance to fight him like you used to." Kakashi sat up straight, and brought his head back so he could look up at the ceiling. "And that leaves Mito and Rin...both share the tendency to be extremely kind to their comrades, but that's the only thing that I think they really share…" Before he could think about it some more, Anza decided to cut into his epiphany.

"Where is this going?"

"Really? Nowhere...but I learned what I wanted to say thanks to all that. Anza...I used to be much worse than you. When my father killed himself because of his failures, my entire ideology and world shattered, and I thought that compassion, love, and all things connected to those things were nothing more than the thoughts of the fool...then I was taught a lesson: '_Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash_.' Those words helped me realize that _I_ was the fool for believing such stupid ideas, and started me down the path I needed to go so I could be the person I am today."

"I still don't understand...what are you trying to say?"

"That there's still time. If you can find it in your heart to give us one more chance, we can prove that we haven't harmed Noboru, Akira, and Haruka in anyway, and whatever info you got is false."

Almost immediately, Anza shook her head. "...I can't. I'm done giving you chances...every time I do, I get screwed over in the end...so I'll just stay here, in the mess we've created. At least in this mess I know where everything stands."

Kakashi sighed. "Alright. It's your decision...there's really nothing I can do to change it. Get some rest, though. I don't care if you think you don't need it, you'll make everything worse for yourself if you don't go to sleep."

"Don't you think I would be asleep if I could? I can't sleep like you can...like a normal person can."

That's when his thought from earlier came roaring back. 'That's right...damn, I can't believe I forgot about that...but it's something I can do for her...something.' "I'll be right back." Just as Anza's mouth started to move, he got up and left, leaving her alone, with the bag the only indicator that he was even there. After he was gone, she let out a heartless chuckle, and let her head hang.

'Yeah...I doubt that…'

Despite her skepticism, he held true to his word, and returned to the cell only a few minutes later, retaking his seat from before. "Hey...I'm back."

"I know...I'm neither blind or deaf." She looked over him, but like before, she stopped at around his knees, spying a clenched left hand resting on it. "What are you holding?"

"Something I think you'll like." He loosened his grip, and shook the object, getting multiple clinking noises to come from it, of which Anza knew very fondly.

"Is...is that a case of pills?"

"Yes. Venlex Sleep Aids, too. I figured you need them."

"I-I do...without my dreamcatcher, they're the only things that can get me to rest without the dreams…"

"Then it's settled." Without any hesitation, he uncorked the bottle and ripped the seal off of it. "So...how many do you need? Two, three? Five? Fifty?"

"F...five...but...why would you do this for me? What's in it for you?"

"Nothing, and why? Because I care about what happens to you, even though I may not have been able to properly show that when you were one of my genin." Not wasting any time, he poured out five and popped them into her mouth, giving her some water to wash it down. She gulped, and in a matter of seconds he could see the effects starting to take over, her eyes became half-closed, and a long yawn escaped from her lips.

"T-thank…you...K-Kakas...hi…" They finally drifted shut, and soon she lost all feeling in her body, going limp and making the chains rattle.

"Your welcome...and good night, Anza. I'll see you tomorrow...and every day after that."

* * *

She didn't know how long she was out, or when she woke up. She probably would never figure it out, either, as inside this damn dark room, she had already lost all sense of time. What day is it, or even what year? Is the sun up, or is the moon reigning supreme? When was the last time she had taken a bath? These were all questions she couldn't rightfully answer...all she had were guesses, which were entirely useless in the face of mortality. Actually...she hadn't a clue as to if she truly was awake. With how she thought her neck felt as it hung, she knew that her legs should be right in front of her eyes, but nothing was there, only the single-tone black of night. 'Maybe I'm dead...maybe those weren't sleep pills...maybe they were actually cyanide tablets...maybe my corpse is being paraded around town on a pole, to show that Minato still is competent in his duties...if that's true, I'm in hell. Expected more screaming...it's actually rather cozy, if you get past the 'nothing'. Heh...poetic justice. Take away all my senses, leaving me with the very same thing I hate. Everything I hate...triumphs over me, in the end. Was that my destiny? To believe I actually had the power to change my life, only to be shown how useless everything I did was? If so...bravo, Kami...you've proven that I really am...just a toy for your amusement.' Anza would have kept rambling like a madman, but suddenly a bright flash took over her vision, forcing her to blink a couple times, and when her eyes didn't feel assaulted anymore, she saw where she actually was...in the same position, in the same chains, and in the same cell. '...at least I was right about half of that.' The fourteen year-old sighed. 'Why can't this torture just end…?'

Back behind the wall, the ones responsible for the brightening of the room were looking at her through the glass, with the cyclops surprised at her state of awareness. "Hm...she's awake? I would have thought that, with how tired she was and how strong those pills were, she'd still be sleeping to...at least tomorrow. A resistance? Could be..." said Kakashi, who turned to his trio of guests afterward. "Nevermind what I said. Not sound asleep. That means that you _could_ go in and see her...but my question is: are you sure you want go in there, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha heir took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly through his nose. "I think so. Fu and Mito have already gone, it's my turn now…" He eyed the other two. "...unless you want to go in, Kushina, Minato. You're her parents, after all. It might trigger something...good inside her, if we're lucky."

Minato sighed. "No, not yet. Things are a little...raw...with her right now, and it would be...a bad decision to be in the same room as her."

"Because she may shut down completely, right...not the best thing when the only way to make it out of here alive is to let go of some of her anger."

Kushina nodded. "We'll be watching you, though. At least...we can get a good read on her if we stand back and let others take over."

Now Sasuke, too, had to sigh. "Alright, alright...fine. I guess it's time, then…but you're going to have to talk to her at some point later on. Don't forget that." Both halves of the twins' gene pool nodded, and that was all he needed. Taking one last second to crack his neck, he unlocked the door and made his way inside, causing the same loud *creak*, making him unconsciously wince upon closing it. "Uh...huh...well then...if you didn't know I was here then, you know I'm here _now_…"

"Yes, I do...Sasuke." Anza shifted her eye's to see him, and he inched his way to the only seat. "What brings you to my...humble abode?"

"Can't I see my friend?"

"We are not friends. Once, but now…" She shook her head. "...we're the worst of enemies, our old friendship destroyed by the very things that kept us together. I knew the moment I left Uzu that if we met again...it was going to happen...but I…" The mercenary sighed. "Sasuke...do you ever have the wish…to go back in time?"

Sasuke tilted his head, and furrowed his brows. "What?"

"I asked...do you ever have the desire to go back to the past?"

"I know what you said, but I don't understand where this is coming from. I literally just got in here, and now you're asking _me_ questions? That was _extremely_ quick."

"Just indulge me, boy, and answer the question. Maybe you'll understand then."

Automatically at being called such a derogatory nickname, he scowled. "Fine...just don't call me boy when we're the same age."

"I'll call you whatever I want."

'Okay, just going to ignore it…' "My answer is...sometimes, but most of the time, no. I have a rather good life, there really shouldn't be a reason for me to wish for something like that...except for when one thing crosses my mind."

"Oh? Do tell."

"You."

"...me?"

"Yeah. Starting the day after you're ninth birthday, I have never stopped thinking about how I could have stopped you from falling, even though I know I couldn't have done anything at that time. Then there is also every day after you ran away...if I could go back in time on either of those two, I could have stopped all this from happening with what I know now. But then I think about all the connections I've made after both of those events, with your friends, your sister, and with Fu…"

"...and you don't know if it would be worth it or not."

His heart froze at her finishing his sentence. "Exactly. So you've…?"

"Yes. I've thought about the same things, Sasuke...I always have...but at the same time, I've realized how futile it is. Make one thing change for the better, a hundred more could change for the worse. If I stopped myself from going to the cliff, I never would have suffered like I did, but I wouldn't be as strong as I am today, or would have met Haku, or become smart enough to see the lies being told to me on a daily basis. If I never revealed myself, I might have been able to give up on killing the Hokage and his wife, despite all they've done to me...but what would have happened if my Trickster Demon Henge gave out, like it would have if I used up almost all my chakra? No matter what...everything would have begun crashing down sooner or later, and my happiness would have been lost." She looked away from him. "And, sometimes...I don't think about those things. Instead, I just want to go back and relive some of the better days, like...like our time under Shisui and Itachi, even if I were to lose all my memories after that point."

He smiled and chuckled at that. "We had great times back then, didn't we? Itachi and Shisui-sensei...they didn't know how to teach little kids, but they put on a smile...or nothing at all, in Itachi's case...and did their best. Which, if we look at us now, was pretty damn good. We've both become exceptional as shinobi."

"...except for me."

"Are you kidding? You're one of the strongest of our generation! You were able to _win_ the entire Chunin Exams, escape from the entirety of _Konoha_, and stayed out of our grasp for two years, even when you when you decided to start your mercenary jobs! You're great at...at almost everything, Anza! The only one I can compare you to is Itachi, and my memories of his prowess!"

Anza gave out an empty chuckle. "Not great enough, as if I was, I would have been able to win at the Valley, even with odds like those...but tachi, huh? I figured you'd say 'Minato' instead...why him?"

"Besides the fact I heard about Itachi's growth practically all my life? For starters, you act like he did, aloof but fully capable of being compassionate; when you were one of us, you had the highest skill level...I bet that by now, you could have made jonin, or Anbu captain, and most of all, you fight so much like him it's almost scary...if a tad more brutal. You remember, don't you? How whenever we fought him, it looked so easy for him to parry our strikes, even if we attacked him at the same time? Or how he used only one seal, but created some of the largest fireballs? It's like you're following everything he did to a T."

"Well...most of what you described could also be used as a comparison to Shisui-sensei...but if you think I'm like Itachi-sensei...then it was intentional, on my part."

"...what?"

"Don't be so surprised. Itachi-sensei...I don't know what it was about him, but I liked how...simple he made everything look, no matter what he did, and at the same time make it the most effective thing out there. Unlike Shisui-sensei, who actually used a stance, he didn't, not really. He always shifted whenever the situation demanded it, whether it be two young upstarts ganging up on him or someone his equal. Fluid movement...no way of telling how he'd attack or guard...the highest possible point in chakra control...he was the epitome of what I wanted to be myself, alongside Minato. So...when I got to Uzu, that's what I tried to do, succeeding in two, but the chakra control...I only got so far as the Rasengan...until recently. Now I can use one-handed seals in place of two-handed ones while also making the jutsus created from them just as powerful as their less time-efficient counterparts. So yes...you're comparison was fair. Far fairer than you realize, as to include onto that...I'm an S-Rank traitor, aren't I?"

Despite knowing she was more than likely going to go in that direction, Sasuke felt the urge to pull at and rip apart his own scalp. "No! Well, yes, but no! You're not a traitor like he is! Where I have no goddamn idea as to what came over Itachi to kill his own parents and almost eradicate his entire clan, I do with you! The reason you tried to kill _your_ parents was because you wanted to them to pay for abandoning you and show them that it didn't work! When you attacked us the second time, you did it only because you were _that_ worried about the well-being of your students! You could have gone about those situations better, yes, but given the context, I can't see how any of that spells 'traitor', and your mom, dad, and Kakashi would agree with me if they were in here and not out in the hall!" As soon as those words left his mouth and reached his ears, his blood turned into ice, and his jaw ending up locking in place, his brain unable to send the signal to let it hang open.

"...Minato and Kushina...they're...here?"

'...shit, I think I fucked up…'

"...get them."

For a minute, Sasuke stared at her, but he couldn't tell what emotion she was trying to channel, so in the end he used his hand to free himself from his facial paralysis. "Wh...what?"

"Don't play this game with me again. I said 'get them'. I want to talk to them."

"Uh...o...kay?" Dumbfounded she would even ask such a thing, he decided to fulfil her request, getting up and poking his head out through the door. "I...don't know if you heard, but she's...calling for you."

"All of us?" asked Kushina, getting him to shake his head.

"No. Only you and Minato. I said you'd have to see her at some point...might as well make it now." The redhead and the blonde glanced at each other, worry shining through their eyes, but they wouldn't say 'no' to their daughter...not like this, so they nodded, and put one foot after the next, after the next, after the next, almost making it into the cell before Anza hit them with something akin to a glare, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"That's close enough. With what I have to say, you don't need to be all the way in...all I need is your ears for two minutes at most."

"Alright, we can do that. What do you want to say, Anza?" politely asked the Fourth, subduing his hopeful voice as much as possible.

"This won't be a conversation. You won't return anything I say. When I speak, you listen." They nodded, and she closed her eyes. "So I'll get started...you know we're not family anymore. You're not the parents I thought you were, and that hurts whenever I think about it, but I...I have to say...thank you. Thank you for...creating me, for giving me a physical, _actual_, form, and not just a thought waiting to escape the confines of the mind. If you never got together, I never would have seen the stars shining brightly at night, or see all the beauty that the world has...not a speck of it. The great trees around Konoha, standing tall and proud for generations as the village's first guardians; the sparkling clear-blue water of the lakes and seas, giving me a reflection of my face while my feet create ripples and distortions in it; the birds flying through the air, free from the pull of the land, if only for awhile; the flame burning all in it's path, but in it's wake, a changed earth, ready to be reborn...all of those, I never would have known them like I do. I never would have felt the things I did...anger, joy, sadness, desire, regret, disappointment...I wouldn't have known about them, or how to deal with each one. All of me, and all of my trials as a human being trying to find their place in the world, would have been nonexistent. My story wouldn't have a single word on a page, so for that...thank you from the last sliver of my dead heart. Now, please...if I'm going to die anyway, kill me...right now."

Both of them were horrified that she asked that, but it was her mother who reacted first. "What?! No!"

"And why not? You're going to either kill me or let me stay in jail for life, unable to see the light of day again...why not show me just a little compassion, and end my torment and suffering?"

"Because we don't want either of those things to happen, how many times do we have to say it, Anza?! We're not going to kill you if we can help it!" tried Minato, but his estranged daughter sighed.

"I should have known that asking for a mercy kill wouldn't work...I guess you really do want me to stay rotting here, letting what's left of my soul crack and crumble in this dark hole...the slowest death imaginable."

"That's not true!"

Anza simply shook her head. "I'm done with my speech...just go...even _you_, Sasuke. There's...nothing left to say." The Uchiha opened his mouth and raised his hand to protest, but his leader put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go, Sasuke...let's give her some space."

"But…_(sigh)_ fine. I'll...see you later, Anza." She didn't even bother responding, and with the older ninja, he completely exited his old friend's cell, where their spirits seemed to shatter at the less than ideal encounter.

"Well..._that_ didn't go well." commented the Hokage's student.

"No...it didn't…" Minato started to pace around the hall, stealing glances at Anza whenever he got close to the window, and running his hands through his hair. After a long silence, he finally stopped, and let out a long, exasperated breath. "This can't go on like this...this needs to change. _Now_."

Kushina looked at him. "And what do you have in mind?"

"There's only one thing left. We have to use them."

"So soon? Are you sure?"

"We don't have a choice anymore. If it doesn't work now, it never will, Kushina, no matter how much we try to break down her stubbornness. We have to take the chance, otherwise we'll never get Anza back."

She nodded. "Right...you're absolutely right. Nobody has gotten through to her...we have to let them try."

"Yes, we do. I'm getting Haruka, Noboru, and Akira."


	62. Chapter 62

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 62**

While Sasuke and Mito's parent's were out taking their 'turn' seeing Anza, things were not nearly as subdued and serious back at the Namikaze residence. Sure, it wasn't rainbows and sunshine either, but Kurama's jinchuuriki and the students of her twin had actually been finding ways to dampen the sense of dread they had whenever Anza was even remotely mentioned. One of those ways were to play games, which one person was especially enjoying...the other...not so much.

"Checkmate. Forty-_one_ to zero."

As soon as Haruka called out her latest win, Noboru grabbed the shogi board and threw it as hard as he could at the wall, sending pieces all over the living room. "GODDAMN IT!"

Akira, who was watching TV with Mito, laughed at the pure anger in his voice, and twisted around so that he could look at the duo, his arms resting comfortably on the back of the sofa. "Maybe you should stop trying?"

"No! I know I can win! If the odds are ninety-nine percent in her favor, all I have to do is play it to the hundredth game! I should be able to win at least once!"

"That's going to be a little hard. I think you broke the shogi board." He pointed to where the board ended up, and the younger man finally noticed it was now in two separate places.

"...shit."

The mini merc pouted. "Aww...we didn't even have that one for a year…now I have to get another one...man, this sucks!" Her pout was wiped from her face, and she replaced it with a glass-piercing stare that she wasted no time in pointing at Noboru. "Thanks a lot." Haruka filled her words with as much killing intent as someone as young as her could, and her fellow apprentice immediately started to sweat, scrambling away faster than a rat in the hopes of not incurring the wrath of an S-Rank's greatest pride and joy.

"S-sorry! I got caught up in the moment, I didn't mean to do it!" His back hit something, and he didn't need to look to know it was a wall, so with his options running low, he put his arms up to protect his face. "Please don't hurt me…"

The Uchiha tried to keep the pressure on him, but after a minute of staring she bursted out laughing, and soon everyone joined her, even Noboru, who let out something more like a nervous chuckle. "Oh, if mom could see you right now! She would _never_ let you live this down!"

"I don't think she'd blame me too much...if you really wanted to, you could do some serious harm to me, and I wouldn't even be able to react."

"True...I _am_ the best and brightest out of us all, after all…there simply wouldn't be anything you could do about it."

_Now_ he had to laugh. "Okay now, you may want to get your head checked. It may be growing too large for your body."

Haruka's expression took on a more thoughtful look...for about one second. "...naaaaah. My head is just fine, thank you very much. It's only because you're not as smart as me that you say that. "

"...shut up."

"How about no?" she jokingly asked, getting Noboru to shake his head, with a smirk.

"I had a feeling that you were going to say that." He stood up, and brushed himself off. "Well, as I was the one to break our board, I'll go clean it up."

"Good. I was going to make you do it anyway." Snickering one more time, he went over and began the process of picking up the pieces, and Haruka vaulted over the couch, landing right in between her 'aunt' and the eldest man in the room. "So...what's on? Anything good?"

Mito shook her head. "No, not really. Reruns, reruns, and more reruns. Movies that I have no interest in watching, new shows that royally screw up half-way through the season...maybe one day I'll find _something_ of value to look at, but right now, we're stuck on _The Kages_...you have no idea how many times they broadcast it on the History Channel. I think I've watched this episode around fifty times now…"

"Maybe _you_ think it's boring, but for an outsider like me, this is pretty cool. Stuff like this never were on the TV's around Miramashi, and as my dad was a little...frugal, with how we spent money...we never owned one at home, so we were taught basic history through stories and through books we got from Kusa." voiced the axe-wielder.

"...still doesn't change the fact I'm bored." The blonde let her head roll back, and sighed. "Maybe I should go see if Kiba, Hinata, and the others are free...I could use some good sparring at the moment."

At that suggestion, Haruka leaned on her. "If you're bored, how about you do something with me?"

"Like what?"

The Uchiha put a finger to her lips. "Hmm...oh! I know! I want to go to the hotsprings!" Mito's eyes widened at what she said, and sat back up, looking at Haruka as if she was crazy. "...what? Do...do I have something on my face?! I thought I cleaned up well!" She started to wipe her cheeks, but when the older girl didn't say anything, she stopped. "So...I don't? Then why are you staring at me like that? It's weird…"

"Hot springs?!"

"...yeah? Am I...not allowed to go?"

"I would like to think so, given your age!"

Haruka frowned. "But mom says it's okay as long as I wear a bathing suit."

"Anza takes you to them?!"

"All of us, infact." said Akira, drawing the jinchuuriki's attention to him. "We usually go to one after a mission so we can relax a bit, but only when there _is_ one in the village we're staying at for the night. The people at the front desk look at sensei a little strangely when she says that Haruka will be joining her on the womens side, but tying into what she just said, they don't do anything once they're assured and given proof that she'll be covered up."

"Yeah, what he said! So...can we go now?" tried the little kunoichi, earning a sharp shake of the head from Mito.

"No! I don't care if Anza lets you go to them whenever the opportunity arises, I personally don't think that's right, and I won't reinforce that behavior."

Haruka visibly deflated at being denied what she wanted. "Buzzkill…" Not a second later, she perked back up, and smiled. "Ah well...guess that means _you-_" The little girl grabbed the blacksmith's son by the hood, and jumped off her seat, taking him along with her. As he flailed helplessly in the almost unnaturally strong child's hand, she went over to the sword-master-in-training, and grabbed him too with her free hand, causing him to drop and spill everything he had collected. "And _you..._are coming with me! We haven't trained together today, so we might as well make sure that when mom gets out, she sees that we haven't gotten lazy!"

"Fine...but you don't need to DRAG US! WE CAN WALK ON OUR OWN!" shouted Noboru, but his cries fell on deaf ears, and he was stuck in her vice-grip alongside his best friend. Eventually, they both stopped fighting, and let her do as she wished...it wouldn't make a difference if they struggled or not. Before Haruka could bust down the back door, however, a bright light blinked to life from behind them, and she halted mid step.

"...should I even ask what you're doing to them?"

Hearing that familiar voice, she turned her head to partially face where it came from. "Grandpa? Weren't you with grandma and Sasuke? What are you doing back here so soon?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, I was...but something has...come up." He closed his eyes, and took a breath to steady himself. "Anza, she...she has asked for me to kill her."

Haruka let her elders go, eliciting an 'ow' from both. "You're taking us to her. _NOW._"

"I was already planning on it." After giving the other two enough time to stand back up, he went over to them and prepared to teleport back to the cell, but his daughter got up from the couch, and poked him in the back of the shoulder.

"Hey! You can't just appear, say something like _that_ about Anza, and not take me with you, you know! I want to see how this goes with my own eyes!"

"...alright. All of you know what to do." All four of them sharply nodded, and placed a hand on him. The color yellow blinded them for less than a second, and without even having to close their eyes once, they were back in the obsidian structure that Minato had just came from. Not a word was said when the trio of students tore away from the father and daughter and approached the one-way mirror, with Haruka pressing her hand up against it.

"Mom…" In her mind, she knew she should be happy, seeing her beloved teacher awake again, but she...just couldn't ignore what changed on her. Her hair, stringy and lifeless, nothing like it's usual thick, smooth, and shiny self that Haruka found pleasant to touch. That ivory skin, glowing bright even in the smallest amount of light...dulled, dried, ruined...infected with the same dingy air that floated around their heads. Such a beautiful woman, _the_ most beautiful woman, to her, rendered nothing more than a dirty animal...the more she thought about it, _saw_ it, the angrier she got, but now wasn't the time to explode...she had to fix her mom up, first. Then she could let her rage free. "...you shouldn't have waited to call on us. We could have had this done much sooner."

The Hokage drited his gaze to the floor. "You know why we didn't."

"The risks...were too high. I know, but…"

"Haruka, I know how you feel, but thinking like that will get us nowhere...but your actions can."

She put her hand down. "Right...right…"

"So we can just...enter?" asked Noboru, garnering a response from Kushina.

"At any time. The room is free for you."

He nodded to himself, and gathered some courage for the task at hand. When he felt like he was ready, he set himself up next to the door, and his teammates joined him, with Haruka taking the lead for them. She touched the unlocking seal, making it glow, and kicked the door open afterward. The loud sound didn't make Anza move an inch, so one of them had to break the ice. Of course, it had to be the amateur sword-wielder. "You look like shit, Anza-sensei."

The bound prisoner's eye's widened. 'That voice...no, it can't be…' She looked up, and indeed, what she heard was right...her three disciples stood in the doorway. "...N-Noboru? A...kira? Haruka?"

"Mom!" Haruka tackled her guardian, looping her arms around Anza's neck in a warm embrace.

"W-what…? But...how..._how_ are you here?"

"We managed to get grandpa to allow us in! It took awhile, but he finally agreed today! Isn't that great? We can talk again!"

Anza went back and forth between looking at her daughter and the Miramashians, shaking her head in utmost confusion. "No...this isn't right...you...you can't be here...it's not possible…"

"And why is that?" asked Akira.

"Because I saw it...I saw what was happening to you...I saw everything…straps...knives...screams...the anguish…" Unbeknownst to the little girl in front of her, but perfectly visible for the duo, the albino's face began to stretch back and form a snarl, completely barring her teeth in an expression of anger she hadn't shown since she awoke. "That means one thing..._you are not them_...so unhand me!" Anza threw her head side to side as best she could, making Haruka let go because of the sudden and unexpected movement.

"Wh...wha? But...mom? Don't you...don't you recognize us?"

"I damn well do...and that's what making me _furious_." She looked past them, and towards the glass. "Job well done...you found a way to coax out what I didn't want to give you the pleasure of seeing. How _despicable_ are you to make your mindless, loyal soldiers take on the visages of the people I care about _only_ to make you feel _so_ above me?"

Noboru raised a finger. "Uh...I don't know how to tell you this, but we're-" Before he could even finish his sentence, his teacher turned to face him so fast he swore she snapped her own neck.

"_You will be quiet, peon._ I know what you're going to say… 'you're the real ones'. How laughable. I'm not _that _stupid, no matter what your precious 'Hokage' says. I know lies the moment I hear them, I know _fakes_ the moment I lay eyes on them. _You_ are no different. If Minato thinks even for a second I would fall for this, he is sadly mistaken. For starters, it would be idiotic for him to let us be in the same room, or else we could think of a way to escape, but if he simply wanted to rile me up because he wasn't getting any amusement out of me...he succeeded. So you can just go...and you better pray each and every night of your _worthless, misbegotten lives _that the men holding me here don't fuck up and set me free, or else I will send everyone you know and love to all the corners of the globe in _pieces_, and if I die, I _will_ find out who you are, and my ghost will haunt you and your families until your lines of descent come to an end by my cold, dead hands."

He gulped. 'Well...at least she's not so much as a vegetable as she was five minutes ago, but _damn_! That's harsh, even for her!' "But Anza-sensei, we really _are_ your true students! C'mon, you need to think things through for a minute!"

"And why should I believe that? Everyone in Konoha has manipulated me at some point in time, tricked me into believing that I could trust them, that they were my _friends, brothers, and sisters in arms_, but at every corner, I was shown different to the point where a man who tried to destroy this village because of a petty grudge is actually more trustworthy than all of you."

Panic started to quicken their hearts, as in a twisted way, she was right...there was no reason to believe them, not when everything she ever knew was challenged as much as it has. The mismatched trio dug deep into their minds to find anything they could that would convince their master, but as the search began to turn up nothing, Haruka began to freak out, her young mind fully capable of realizing the ramifications if they failed today. 'No...no...NO! She can't die...s-s-s-she can't! I can't lose another one! Come on...come on! There has to be something, I know it!' Her internal screams reflected on her face as a raising amount of red and scrunched up eyebrows, but then...she remembered. There was no snowball's chance in hell that a person like her mother would let words alone win her over, she needed _action_ on them. So she did the most likely thing to work: jump on Noboru's back. The reaction was immediate.

"What the hell?! Haruka! Get off me!" He started twisting his body around in an effort to shake her off, but she held on easily, her arm strength leagues beyond what it would take for him to make her let go. He growled, and reached behind his back to grab her, giving her exactly what she wanted. Quicker than he could react, she dropped down, grabbed his sash, and pulled it free, opening up his gi. "Huh?!" After that, she sped to Akira, and did a similar thing, but instead taking his blue jacket hostage, before taking a position directly in front of Anza, facing away from her.

"Hey! Give me back my coat!" yelled the axe-user, and his friend nodded in agreement.

"And give _me_ back my belt!"

"No! Not until you take off your shirts!" responded the Uchiha.

"What?!"

"You heard me! Take off your shirts and you'll get your things back!"

They turned to look at eachother for a second, and when they looked back they had incredulous expressions. "...are you crazy?! Why do we have to do that?!"

"Just do it! If you don't in the next _five_ seconds, I'll strip you myself!"

Akira waved his hands in front of him. "Alright, alright! Fine! We'll do it!"

Noboru tilted his head. "Wait...we will?"

"Hey, if you want to have an eight year old dominate you and pull off your clothes, be my guest, but I sure as hell won't let her do that to me!"

"...good point…" Without asking more questions, he removed his gi and his mesh undershirt, an action that the other boy mirrored, showing off their relatively well-toned bodies. "Okay...if you're satisfied with what you see, can you hand us our stuff?"

Haruka shook her head. "In a minute!" She turned around. "Mom, if you're right and we _were _tortured, we'd have scars from it, even if a healer healed us. Well look!" The child let go of the items in her hands, and lifted up her own shirt up to her chest. "There's nothing on me! I'll even show you my back!" She proceeded to do as said, twirling around to reveal her bare, unscratched torso in it's entirety. "And neither do they! Akira, Noboru, show her!" Now realizing why she put them through that embarrassing situation, they too spun around, knowing full well that they had no recent scars, and when she saw that, she gave a pained, desperate smile. "See? See?! We're practically untouched! They never laid a finger on us! They've been _really_ good hosts!"

Anza growled. "Your words are meaningless. Any man with half a brain cell would figure out how to imagine a perfectly unharmed form for a henge. This only proves me right."

That...was _NOT_ what she wanted to hear. "B-but any self-respecting shinobi, mindlessly loyal or not, wouldn't show this much of a little girl's body to...to anyone! It would be too awkward for them! Only I, the real Haruka, would do that in front of everyone and you know it!"

"Going by that, all Minato would have to do is find someone who just doesn't give a shit. Face it, I've seen through your disguises...your work here is done. Go back to your leader and get your reward for both drawing out my ire and failing to trick me, and remember what I've said."

Hearing those words come from the woman she held so high brought out all the sorrow from behind her young and weak mental barriers, making all she saw distort and swim around her. "No...y-you're wrong...g-grandpa isn't my leader...you a-are…" Haruka took a shaky step closer, and grabbed the dirty and torn haori. "P-please...believe me...please...we're not henges...w-we're not...I'm Haruka, your d-daughter, and those guys behind me are Noboru and Akira, your students, not anyone e-else...why c-can't you see us? Why have we become i-invinsible to you? Why are you treating us like g-grandpa and grandma? Why? D-don't do this to us...to me...you...you can't leave us...t-training has been s-slow...we still c-can't walk on trees...and we can't do it without your help...please...l-l-listen to me…" To her horror, Anza didn't say a word, and she couldn't find the strength to hang on. Falling to her knees, salty tears ran down her face, while behind her, the chests of the teens became cold at seeing such a disheartening sight.

'No way...not even with words like those does she seem to think we're the real deal, or those honest to Kami sobs...is this hopeless? Is she...going to die?' darkly thought Akira, and his team became rooted to the spot, unable to look away from the image of a crying child.

From behind the mirror, Minato clenched his fists. 'Damn it...damn it! What else can be done?! What else can I do to save her?! Every idea has failed! Her trust has been utterly shattered! Not even the people closest to her can get through that thick head of hers!' He couldn't help but grit his teeth in frustration, but he forced himself to take a deep breath, and calmed down a little bit. 'Okay Minato...think...you should have planned for this if it happened. If she thinks that they're fakes, what can I do to…' His eyes widened upon the realization. "Kakashi...give me the key."

The jonin turned to him, with a questioning look. "To the chains? Sensei, what are you planning on doing?"

"Just give me the key." Kakashi sighed, but dug into his pocket and procured the surprisingly simple object.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

He took it. "No, I don't." Stepping away from the majority of his family, he entered the cell, drawing a blank glare from his own flesh and blood...strange, as her voice seemed to be full of emotion.

"I think I already told you...we have _nothing_ more to converse about."

"I know...that's not why I'm here." Walking past the still frozen duo, he got to the first set of bindings he had to undo: the finger clasps, which all he had to do was unclamp them. 'This...very well could be my stupidest plan ever. I'm risking my life doing this...but after seeing that...it'll work, I'm sure of it.'

Anza scrunched up her brows. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Setting you free."

"...what?"

"I'm pretty certain I'm speaking the same language. I'm setting you free."

"Why?"

"Because...it might open your eyes to the world around you...the world you refuse to acknowledge." He moved on, next going for the ones on her arms, then her stomach, and lastly, her legs. Because she hadn't been able to move for...awhile...Anza couldn't feel her limbs, so when she tried move, her body began wobbling, and fell face first to the floor, but Haruka caught her before that happened.

"I'm...going to need...a little...help...here!" Akira and Noboru shook out of their stupor thanks to the little girl and went over to lift up their sensei.

"...eventually, I'm going to get feeling back into my body, and when that happens, you're going to regret touching me." the merc threatened, but Minato shook his head.

"Anza, they're just trying to help you."

"I don't need help when it comes from the enemy...and you're making a _very_ big mistake by giving me back my chakra."

He lightly shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not, but I'm willing to take that risk. I'm not that worried, as Mito has told me that you don't really want to escape."

"That could change though, as I _could_ simply teleport out of here now."

"That would be fine too...it would force you to have to feel out your Hiraishin marks. I know you wouldn't leave your students, daughter, battle partner, and your summon in my hands."

Anza's furrow deepened. "What have you done to my markers?"

"Nothing, but if you don't believe me, check for yourself."

The white-haired girl was a little reluctant to do as her bastard of a father said, but she had to admit, his comments sparked some curiosity about why he would be perfectly okay with _her_, essentially his number one enemy, slipping from his grasp. Closing her eyes to focus, she sent small doses of chakra out to where the closest markers were, as undoubtedly her 'family' would be somewhere in Konoha, and immediately opened them back up once the pulses came back to her. 'What...the…how...how are there seven just in a ten meter radius...and on this same level?' She turned to each of the men keeping her from gaining a more intimate relationship with the cell, first Noboru, then Akira, before looking at the four-foot girl in front of her. "No...there has to be some kind of mistake...my...my brain must have damaged from hitting that statue head first...there's no way these three have been touched by my Hiraishin. The only people I've fought from here are the ones from my graduating class, you, Kakashi, and Kushina...t-that must mean that you got three members of the Rookie Nine to masquerade as my teammates...yes...that must be it...no other explanation…they are the only other ones I could have put a mark on..."

That quiver in her voice made the blonde's heart beat just a little faster. He knew what would get through to her now...he had to keep egging her on. "No, I didn't. Anza, use your skills as a sensor. Look into their chakra, and see just who they really are."

She tried to stop herself. Every bone and cell told her not to listen to him, to not find out about the people around her, but she felt out the weak and powerful energies anyway...and to her shock, the 'fake' in front of her had the same warm, bubbly, but icy-edged chakra as her adopted child, and the two flanking her had identically weak, both in terms of size and density, signatures to the two she picked up on her travels. "No...no! I...I refuse to believe that they're them! How did you copy their chakra's so perfectly?! HOW?!"

Minato frowned. "As I've said before, and will still stand behind...I haven't done anything. Ever since you dropped them off, they've been staying at my house, like you requested, and I've tried to be as best of a host as I could. At the same time, I have _never_ put them behind bars like you think. The only times they've seen the inside of the cell was when you were first moved here by Koharu and Homura, as they tagged along with me to check on you, and today. They're the real deal, I swear."

As the evidence started to amount in her father's favor, her lips trembled. "B-b-b-but...if...if that's true...t-then...no...I...I…" Her entire body started to shake, and one by one she yanked her arms off the shinobi-in-training's shoulders, clutching her head as she finally crumbled up onto the floor. "I...I...I...I can't be wrong...I can't be...I saw you give the order to extract as much info as possible, by any means…"

"Whatever he showed you, Anza, it wasn't real. Madara tricked you. He used you for his own gain...you must know that now. The timing was too perfect. He waited for you to give him an opportunity to use you against us, and pounced the moment you did, giving you what was required to create a conflict that could have ended very differently. _He wanted you to the hand holding the axe_."

"NO!" Subconsciously, she forced her biju chakra to explode out of her, creating a heavy gust of wind that pushed everyone back a few inches. "NONONONONO! If...if that was fake..then what did I see?! WHAT THE HELL DID I SEE?! Oh...oh god…! If you're right, then...then...I almost destroyed so many innocent lives! AND I NEVER WOULD HAVE KNOWN! I WOULD BEEN SOME KIND OF PUPPET FOR HIM TO USE WHENEVER HE PLEASED!" She punched the ground, making a crater the size of her fist, and her dormant power began to seep out of her skin in excess amounts as the two ideas, one of which she knew was false, battled each other in her head. The clash proceeded to tear her mind apart, and before anyone knew what was happening Anza began lashing out at everything in the general vicinity, waving her arms like she was trying to stop someone from touching her while at the same time hitting them with endless waves of unconcentrated power. Minato, Haruka, Akira, and Noboru raised their arms up to their faces and took a step back to lessen the strain on the front of their bodies, but the missing-nin let out a scream, increasing the amount of chakra she was emitting and making the actions essentially useless.

"Urgh...I'm getting you out of here! Like this, she's too dangerous for you to be around!" said the Hokage, getting a nod from the trio. Without wasting a second, he cut through the 'current', collected the students, and made it through the door in a blink of an eye, closing and locking it immediately upon reaching the other side. "There...that should do...something. Won't keep her from leaving with the Hiraishin, but it'll have to do for the time being."

Once getting away from danger, the still-shirtless Noboru walked over to the wall opposite to them, and rested his back up against it. "Phew...for a second there I thought I was going to be a smear on the wall...Anza-sensei is still scary, even though she all she can do is thrash about and roll on the floor…"

Akira joined him. "Yeah...and she wasn't even trying to hit anyone, either...remind me to never do anything to piss her off if she gets out of this alive…"

"I'll second that, buddy...I'll second that…" He turned his attention towards the man who probably just saved his life. "So...what now? Call me crazy, but I think we're not going to be talking to Anza-sensei anymore until she calms down."

Minato dipped his head toward the ground. "...I don't know. Really, I thought she'd be gone by now, not throwing chakra around as if it's going out of style. I guess...we'll just have to go with the flow from now on."

"...and that means?"

"We wait...again...and see where all this goes."

Next to him, Haruka smiled despite the emotional rollercoaster she had just been through. 'Yes...one step closer...maybe...just maybe everything can get fixed between them? Maybe…

...there will be a happy ending after all?'

* * *

**A.N.: Welp...I guess I need to call the insurance company...I think I need another Anza...third one this year...**

**Sandy: I wish I could have replied sooner, but this chapter kicked my ass...I _really_ need to plan for the smaller stuff as well as the 'big' stuff...anyway, I understand how you feel, believe me. I didn't like how easily literally _everyone_ forgave Sasuke in canon despite all he did, and I won't do that with this story. If I have her reconnect with her family, it won't be that goddamn quick and easy, at least. No one gets a 'free' happy ending...they have to earn it...just like if they want her trust. I'm glad you like this enough to mention this, though!**

**Guest: Same goes with you! I will admit, the idea of two endings sounds pretty cool, but, uh...I can't. You see...I have no idea how close to the end I really am, as the original version only went to around 36 chapters, and this is at 62...the equivalent to chapter 20-ish on the other one. Yeah...so...you can see how that would be hard, as I'd have to write alternate chapters as well as the main ones, and my update times are all over the place already. Again, cool idea though. I just can't do it, I'm not good enough for that kind of thing. Oh, and don't worry, I'll be seeing this through...just might take awhile.**

**I should probably do this too, as it's been awhile...always feel free to leave a review, like these kind people! Especially with this one...I feel as if something isn't quite right with it...maybe a little rushed?**


	63. Chapter 63

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 63**

Unanimously, once Anza began losing her mind and breaking anything in arms length trying to sort out fact from fiction, all but Kakashi, who swore he'd still stand guard, decided that it would be best if they went back home and waited awhile before going back. With how she was acting, it would be quite some time before she stopped throwing her tantrum, and while that was happening, no one would be safe, even from behind the glass. Even worse, when she _did_ finally stop, what was stopping her from running again, or rampaging across Konoha? Absolutely nothing. That scary thought plagued everyone all the way to bed and well into dawn, but none more so than the girl's father, the one who'd be responsible for any deaths if that were to happen. Luckily, when he awoke and looked out the window, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, as there were no fires blotting out the twilight. His home had survived the night. Smiling to himself, Minato took a quick shower, got dressed, and left before even his wife woke up to see him off. 'Alright...everything looks like it's still standing, and if my senses are correct, Anza's still in S-Block...and...I don't feel any biju chakra coming from down below. She's not like how she was yesterday, then...I'll swing by for a minute before I head to the Academy. Have to see the extent of the damage, anyway…' Sighing, he decided to walk to the prison instead of teleporting to help calm his nerves. With how early it was, there were barely anyone on the roads besides a couple of people on their ways to their jobs, so despite his rather slow pace, he found himself outside both maximum security institutions in a matter of minutes. Going past the larger one, he said 'hello' to the jonin watching over the staircase and descended downward, following the path back to his daughter's cell, where he was greeted with shards of razor edged obsidian strewn across the ground every which way and his student leaning on the wall, looking at the space in front of him like he was...in shock? "...hello? Kakashi?"

"Sensei." His gaze didn't stray, an action that would usually considered rude if Minato didn't know there had to be a good reason for Kakashi's behavior.

"Are you...okay?"

"Now, but earlier...I had a close call." The silver haired man pointed towards the ruined one-way mirror, which only had less than half of it remaining. "Around four hours ago, I began to feel sleepy, so I created a Kage Bunshin to keep watch while I got a nap in, like I usually do when I'm tired. Right after I closed my eyes, Anza sent a chakra arm at the mirror and punched through it, killing my clone, and almost grabbed me, but she gave up halfway. I was against sleeping afterward, so I've been doing my best to stay awake just in case she restarted."

"How long has she been done?"

"A little after that event. Probably ran out of energy. Hasn't done a thing since." Kakashi eyed Minato. "If you thought up something new for her, sensei, now might be the perfect time to enact it. Then again...she is _far_ more cunning than she looks. Her silence could be an act to get our guards down."

"It could be, but it doesn't matter. If she attacks, she attacks, and I'll react accordingly." Minato trekked along, his footsteps crunching on the shards as he went ahead of the younger man.

"Wait...you're really going in? Already?"

"Yeah. I was thinking about coming by again later to do this, but now that I'm here...I just have to see if she's okay." Passing by what used to hide the rest of the complex from his daughter, he glanced into the next room to see just how badly it's condition was. It...wasn't in the best of shape, but it wasn't too terrible, at least not _as_ bad as it could have been. The chains that used to suppress Anza's powers were chipped and ripped apart in some places, the metal itself not being strong enough to endure the abuse her chakra committed, while both the walls and the floor were filled with dents where either she personally punched them in or her shroud created them with its waves. Anza herself was resigned to the back left-hand corner, head resting against the side of the small box she lived in, and body sitting still despite full range of motion having been returned to her. Half his face twitched in pity, and he knew it'd only get worse when he actually entered the cell, so he hurried up and got to the door, which had clearly felt Anza's wrath, removed the seal, and opened it with some difficulty. The squeak that normally came with it was far harsher than normal, drawing the girl's attention...and her dreary, half-lidded eyes. "...hey." Nothing. "Um...I see that you're not trying to kill everything. Is it okay if I come in?" Anza's head went back to it's original position, completely ignoring the question. "...probably not…but I'll go ahead and apologize for doing so." Fully going in, he sat next to her. "How are you feeling?" The Yellow Flash gave her a minute to respond, but still she kept silent, to his disappointment. "Not...well, I see…but…" His head went down. "...I can't blame you. You firmly believed that you were right, but now...you've been given reason to doubt it, the very thing that drove you to kill your friends...something you normally wouldn't do. There's...no way anyone with a conscious to not feel like you do." Again, she didn't bother with a response, and he closed his eyes in defeat. Anza wouldn't want to talk to him anyway...ever.

"...be…lie...ved…?" She suddenly whispered, voice hoarse and weak, and he snapped back up in time to see her mouth hang open, possibly struggling to find words. "Believed...a...word I can't...see...understand...it...promises...a true idea to those who need...it...but I...I don't have it…" Anza tilted her head slightly, and her gaze met his...but it seemed to go past him and into oblivion, and his spine tingled when he realized it was quite like what he saw when he watched her memories of Taki. "Because...it's gone. Gone...left...my system. I...don't know what to believe...I don't know...what's reality and what's...been made up. I can't...tell...anymore…"

A powerful, overwhelming urge to comfort her begun to press down on his psyche, but, with her, he had no idea how to do that. With Mito, he'd simply give her a hug and spend as much time with her as she wanted, chat with her, spar with her, practically anything that he thought a parent should do with their child, because he knew at least one of those things would work with her, but...he hasn't been Anza's father in a long time. She was so different, compared to back then...it was like learning how to walk again. Where should he step? What were the things to avoid? Things like that made it hard to figure out what he should say to her, the Chunin Exams made that perfectly clear, but he couldn't _not_ say anything. It wouldn't sit right with him. Minato sighed, and trying to not make himself out as a threat, he slowly placed his hand on her exposed shoulder. "Shh...shh...please, don't speak. If I had known that you strained yourself this much, I wouldn't have asked anything. Let your voice rest...let it heal."

"N...no...have to...talk...silence does...nothing...have to...figure...out…" She broke out in a coughing fit, and he immediately turned to the wrecked mirror.

"Kakashi!"

"Already on it!" A second later the twenty-something shinobi came in with a bottle of water and forced her to have a swig when she had a break. Afterward, she settled back into the wall, seemingly okay.

"See? You need to give yourself some time before you try long sentences. It'll only hurt you in the long run."

"Shut...up...leave me alone...go...away." Anza rasped, and he shook his head.

"I won't do that. Never again. No matter how you look at it, all that's done is cause us both needless pain. No more. From now on, I'm going to do my best to help you..._we're_ going to do our best to help you...which reminds me. That can't be done if you're stuck in here." Grasping her hand, the blonde stood up, pulling her onto her feet without a struggle, surprisingly. "Being in this cell doesn't do you any good, and I think it's about time for you to breathe some _real_ air. Kakashi, would you like to join us?"

Kakashi nodded. "I swore to you that I would protect her, no matter what. I don't think that changes if we go to some place nicer. It..._is_ somewhere nicer, right?"

"I'd like to think so. Better than this place, anyway." Taking command over the Hiraishin, the room melted away and was soon swapped with a much lighter one, with an elongated table stretching out in front of six large windows. Minato took a long breath of non-rancid oxygen of the mission assignment area, and smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Ahh...fresh air. Much better than a second ago, huh? Come, let's take a seat. We're going to be here for awhile, so might as well make yourselves comfortable."

"Are you sure? I can stand if people are going to be in here for work, it's no big deal."

"It's fine, Kakashi. You're not going to be here all day, unlike me." As he more or less dragged the pale twin behind the desk and started picking out a chair for Anza, his student furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Wait...are you saying that...you're assigning me to a different mission?"

"No, but I _do_ need you to do, in a few hours, is go get Sasuke, and make sure he brings some clothes for Anza. At least one shirt, pants, and underwear. She needs to get out of these as soon as possible, they are way too dirty and torn. Can I count on you?"

"Um...yeah. Of course."

"Good." Finally choosing the one next to where he would be sitting at, Minato turned it around so that it faced the balcony, and motioned for his daughter to take it, which she did without a word. "I figured you'd prefer looking out over the village, something more interesting than the wall or some pieces of paper. I hope that's okay?" Like he expected, he was ignored, but at least she wasn't putting more strain onto her throat than what was already there, so he was alright with the cold-shoulder, and as long as she didn't try to make a break for it, he wouldn't bother her too much. Much as he hate to admit it, that was the best he could do for her at the moment, and following her lead, he too sat down, beginning the long slog through paperwork that he swore wasn't there when he left the desk the day before…

* * *

Fortunately, for the Hokage, the hours went by at a faster than expected pace. He practically skimmed through the relatively small stack, most of the 'issues' he'd already expected/seen before, with only a select few truly earning a slower read, mainly if he thought he saw Anza's name in the mess of letters, with all being false alarms. Must have been because every five minutes he would look over his shoulder to see if the new view had returned at least a little of the runaway's life to her bones, but nothing ever changed. Not her position, not the blankness in her eyes, not a thing. She never even touched the water that her sensei set down next to her. Anza just looked off into the horizon, like she was deep in thought and couldn't see anything else, or simply didn't care. Hopefully that would change when Kakashi got back with the Uchiha and he could finally move onto the next step in the plan. Speaking of the plan...after a few more minutes, approximately two and a half hours since he brought the white-haired girl to the office, he could feel two of his innumerable markers come inside the building, climb up the stairs, and stop outside the door, which was forced open by a backpack-toting, slightly panting Sasuke.

"(Huff, huff) Minato! I'm here!"

Minato put down the pen, and gave the shinobi his full attention. "That you are. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I take it that backpack has the clothes I asked for?"

"I threw myself together the moment I heard Kakashi-sensei say that you needed me and that Anza was here, and yes, it does. I...didn't know what sizes she was, or what she'd choose herself, so I had to...kind of raid Mito's closet. She's the closest match I can think of for her."

"A reasonable assessment."

"Kakashi said that as well, but I just prayed that I would be right in that they'll fit." He stepped inside, and couldn't stop his eyes from wandering to his teammate. Before he knew it, his legs gained a mind of their own, blatantly going around his leader and moved in front of the missing-nin, dropping to his knee so they could be somewhat even in height. "Hey, Anza. Can...can you see me? Hear me? I...I've got some things for you."

Her cold, amethyst orbs flickered, shifting down a small bit to look the raven-haired teen in face. "...Sasuke…?"

"Yeah...it's me. Who else could I be?" His weak attempt at a joke didn't seem to register to her ears, as she tilted her head.

"Why...are you here?"

"You...didn't hear us just now?"

"No...I wasn't paying...attention. Thinking."

"Oh...well, I guess you can call me the delivery boy." Sasuke grabbed the straps of the pack and took it off, placing it on her lap. "Kakashi told me you needed clothes, so I brought you some. Probably not your type, but I figured that later, if you wanted to, I could take you to a store and you could pick out your own."

"Thank...you...maybe. My pants...don't feel quite right anymore. Torn in the middle...needed a way to-"

"NO, no...no. You don't have to say it. He already alluded to it, I don't want to hear it completely. There just some things I DON'T need to hear, that being one of them. Just...do me a favor and change when you can, okay? It isn't right to see you so...degraded."

"...I might."

Sasuke smiled. "Better than a 'no, so I'll take it." Pushing himself up, he went back to the front, going next to Kakashi. "Is that all you needed of me, Minato?"

The Fourth shook his head. "No, actually. There is a specific reason why I called you here, and like with the clothes, it's about Anza...but I'm going to hold off on that for a minute, as we're going to have a guest in about...three seconds." The boy rose an eyebrow at the sudden change of conversation, but he didn't have to ask, as in the blink of an eye he felt something fast move past him, go around the whole room, and hit Anza out of her chair, sending both tumbling onto the ground.

"Rrrgh...what...the..." She groaned, and tilted her head up enough to see what attacked her, only to see a curtain of black snuggling into her chest.

"I knew it! When Kakashi said your name, I had to follow them! And I was right! You really are free of that horrible place! I knew grandpa wouldn't lock you back up like that!"

"Wait...Har...u...ka?"

Giggling in glee, the little girl lifted herself up a bit. "Uh huh! You have to recognize this face! Don't you _dare_ say I'm a fake again, or else I'll start crying! Or set your hair on fire. Whatever gets me the quickest and best results!"

Slowly, the Uzumaki nodded. "Yes...that sounds like something she'd do...knowing that a little...heat won't really hurt me...I do. I do recognize...you. Everything's the same...your chakra...is the same as when I last saw you." Putting her arms around Haruka, she squeezed her back up against her body, letting the deeply missed warmth spread, and the young Uchiha affectionately returned the action. "I don't know how...but...there's no mistaking it...your my little...Haruka. My...perfect assassin…but I don't understand...does that really mean…?"

"Yeah, mom. I'll say it as many times as you need. All that's happened since me, Noboru, and Akira came here are moving into grandpa and grandma's house, training, and hanging out. That's it. We've been safe, and the only things that have hurt us are the trees. We...eventually gave up on that exercise until you came back. Sorry…everyone kept saying that they could help us, but all we know is how _you_ train us, so we kept turning them down."

"That's...fine...sometimes you need to...take a break...you're training will eventually be... finished...hopefully by me."

"You don't know how much that would mean to me…" They continued to lay on the ground, hugging as the other three watched with not-so-suppressed smiles for a while, but Minato had to continue where he left off at some point, so he turned back to the men he considered like sons.

"Anyway...I'd hate to ruin this moment between these two, but our conversation isn't quite done yet, Sasuke."

The Uchiha clan heir tore away from the heartwarming sight, and went back to the serious matter at hand. "Right. You said there was one more thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes. Sasuke...what do you say to having your old home being repurposed?"

"For...what? And why are you asking _me_? I'm not old enough to be considered the owner of that place, you and Konoha have strict ownership of it ever since the Massacre. I haven't even been over there for almost two and a half years!"

"I figured I'd ask since...well...you _did_ grow up there. It must hold _some_ sentimental value to you, and if you'd rather not have anything 'done' to it until you come of age, I won't. I'll find something else."

He waved off the concern. "It's alright, if you need it, use it, but _what_ exactly does this have to do with Anza?"

"A...lot, actually. You see...when I unbound her, I knew that I'd have to find a place for her to stay eventually. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way I can have her under the same roof as us, with her...anger...issues, so the next best choice is…"

"...to find someplace away from the populace, but still under constant watch."

Minato sighed, but nodded. "Correct."

"So you're essentially going to imprison her inside her own village..._without being truly imprisoned_."

"...I won't lie...that's not far from the truth."

"WHAT?!" shouted a horrified Haruka, quickly jumping off her teacher and grabbing the Hokage by the arm. "Imprison her?! AGAIN?! You can't do that! You...can't do that to her!"

"Haruka, please, give me a chance to-"

She furiously shook her head. "No! Shut up! I won't see her like that again!" Letting go, she swiped the pen off the table, and held onto it so hard her knuckles became bone white. "I thought you actually cared about her, about _us_, but she was right the whole time, wasn't she?! You have nothing but bitterness and hate for her and anything she does! Her successes, her wanting people around, _everything_! I can't stand for that, so _throw me in with her_!" The young merc-to-be raised her weapon and tried to bring it down on her superior target, and reacting to the danger, Minato stopped her hand, wrenched the knife out of her grasp, and threw it at the wall, where it exploded into an inky mist.

"Haruka...the first rule of engagement is to analyze your opponent, and if your gut tells you to not to mess with them, or the subject is known to be highly skilled, powerful, and cunning in relation to you, _you don't try to take them on_, and especially not by yourself. Something that should have been taught to you by your mother, even if she doesn't have the best history in following that rule. That being said...I know you're emotions are all over the place at the moment, with Anza taken out of S-Block, you actually being able to be with her again, and the news that Sasuke so eloquently put, but please, you need to calm down for a second. Give me a chance to explain what I meant, okay? You can hate me after that, if you must." He let her go, and the girl slumped her shoulders.

"Sorry...I...I can't help it...I become very emotional when it concerns mom, and ever since those two old geezers hurt her without a single thought, it's gotten worse..."

"It's alright. That's good, though, it means you really love her and are willing to protect her at any cost...something I've failed to do."

His praise got her to smile, even if it was more subdued than normal. "I guess so."

"It is. Now, could you help your mother off the floor and move her to the front of the room? It would be strange to not tell her her fate directly in the face." Haruka nodded, and with the help of the taller Kakashi, she pulled Anza to her feet and brought her around. Minato had to do his best not to look at the dead-man stare his daughter was still giving, as the more he saw it, the more worried he became over her mental state. "Moving on...what I meant by 'not far' is that, even though my hopes of trying to make it the contrary, it's going to be more like a gilded cage, due to, by law, she's a very dangerous criminal. As Hokage, I have to give the people what they want, which is either lock her up and throw away the key or kill her, but at the same time, as a parent, I have to protect my daughter. A jail cell fits both sections rather well, but is less than ideal, being completely restraining and unbearably lonely. So, to give both parties what they want, if she were to live practically on the outskirts, the odds of her or other civilians being hurt by each other are minimized, and luckily, Sasuke's house is perfect, being out of the way, yet still has access to the rest of Konoha."

"Oh...that doesn't sound too bad."

"But…"

"...but?"

"That arises _another_ problem. Realistically, I have no reason to trust her. I distinctly remember Kakashi telling me that Anza said she'd only do good, but the moment she catches wind that her apprentices are being tortured, all logic and sense of reason went out the window, and she launches a personal assault against some of our best, nearly killing a few of them, and definitely _would_ have if Kushina or I weren't there, just because they were there. I can't let her stay under my nose, and that means from now on, when she gets to that house, she can never leave the land without a proper escort, like Kakashi, another jonin, or Mito, or else she will lose the right to visit the other parts of Konoha. On top of that, there will be an Anbu task force assigned to her, with the clearance to incapacitate her if she attacks anyone or tries to escape without anyone's knowledge, and if she leaves the village with the Hiraishin, I will have no choice but to change the set of parameters for her capture from 'alive' to '_dead _or alive'. She will be watched twenty-four/seven, no exceptions. Do I need to repeat anything?" His granddaughter looked up to Anza, but she wasn't paying attention, so she shook her head for her. "Excellent...but don't leave yet." Sifting through the papers, he procured a single one, summoned a replacement pen, and wrote some things down on it, holding it out after he was done. "Kakashi, take this. It's official release orders for Haku, allowing you to pick him up on your way there." Not one to ignore his sensei's word, the cyclops took a few steps forward and accepted the form, and the blonde focused on the black and white duo. "_And_...later today, I'll have the toads let the chimera go, and he too will be allowed to stay with you. From what I remember about the area...there is _more_ than enough yard space for him to make a new home."

Haruka regained that childish, happy twinkle in her eye that she had lost just a few minutes before, which made him feel a _lot_ better about his rules. "Really?" He nodded, and she tugged at Anza's haori. "You hear that? All of us will be together again, and we still get to see the rest of home, if we're careful! Isn't that great?"

"Sure...yeah...whatever…" was what she mumbled, but that didn't seem to dampen the girl's spirits at all. On the contrary, it only made her more ecstatic, gaining a grin big enough to rival his wife and daughter's on a good day when she turned back to him.

"Then it's settled! When can we go? Can we go now?"

A chuckle escaped from Minato. "Yes, you can. Everything's done for the time being." That was all she needed to hear. Still holding onto the coat, Haruka turned to the door and bolted, dragging the whiskered-teen behind her. Kakashi immediately chased after them, as he was their only way of getting the Ice Release user, leaving Sasuke the only one with the fastest shinobi alive.

Seeing how quickly his clansman vacated the room, the elder Uchiha shook his head in amusement. "She's a strange one, isn't she? Quite like Anza, really...going from happy to angry to calm at the drop of a hat like that. Sorry about that, by the way. If I chose a different way to phrase it, she wouldn't have attacked you."

"No serious harm was done, don't worry about it. Are you going to go with them?"

"Not right now. I'm going back home to get Noboru and Akira, and I'll meet up with them at the house. I'm sure Kakashi won't let them go off on their own without leading them there first...and there's also the fact that they forgot the bag. I'll have to go deliver it...again."

"Alright. See you when I come home." Then Sasuke walked out, too, and he went back to looking over his desk, waiting for the time someone came in with the next hours worth of work.

**-_later_-**

"I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Thank you for getting me out of there. I thought I could take the solitude, but as the days went by, I started to miss actually talking to someone, whether it be one of those brutes or the guards." said a newly-freed Haku to his guide, getting the jonin to shrug.

"It's nothing. Sensei wanted you to be with the rest of your team, and I simply did what he asked. How did you get into solitary confinement, anyway? You were put into the leanest part of the prison because of your cooperation, what did you do to earn the stiffest penalty?"

"Ruined a man's life. Every couple of days this one guy would keep saying he's 'the boss' of that level, trying to make me his 'bitch', so he said, and I got sick of it and all those brutes who thought they were 'real' criminals, so I broke both his arms to move into my own cell. Nearly got to his legs before I got my escort, but it served my purpose."

His eye widened at how...casual...the young man voiced such a brutal beating, but stayed moving. "Yep...that would do it. You may look nice, but you definitely have a mean streak, don't you?"

"I did what I had to do. I wanted some peace and quiet, and I got it, but as I said, maybe I should have waited a little longer before doing that. I was getting bored."

Haruka scoffed. "You? How do _you_ get bored? You never seem to have that problem!"

"...I only got one hour of free time a day, which I spent in my cell so I didn't have to deal with the others. Training was near impossible. There was nothing for me to read. You tell me."

"...oh. Well...at least we're almost at our new place, and you can do whatever you want. Right, Kakashi?"

The silver-haired man nodded. "Yep, just a bit further, about ten minutes. We'll be there shortly, and you'll be able to get yourselves situated. Shouldn't be too hard, it's fully furnished, and everything's been kept clean. It should be just like it was before…the incident." He waited to see if Haku would ask about what he meant or if Haruka would do something, but to his surprise, neither did anything, they just went into a conversation, while also trying, and failing, to include their pseudo-catatonic leader into it, so he let them be. After a while, they made it to the road that would directly lead them to their destination, and when they got there, they were greeted with a beautiful one-story home mainly colored white and blue, with the Uchiha fan emblazoned on posts and banners near the front door. On the steps, curiously, were a familiar looking bag, a daichi, an axe, and three people playing poker, like they were waiting for them...a previously left behind Sasuke, and the two Miramashian's, still missing their things from the day before. When the teenagers heard them approaching, the first to throw down their cards was Akira, and he wasted no time in standing up.

"Sensei! Haku!"

The feminine-looking shinobi gave a small wave while they closed the rest of the distance. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has. Around...two weeks, I think. How was jail?"

"Fine. Not too bad, but I never had anything to worry about anyway. I take it you were brought here by Sasuke?" Akira opened his mouth to answer, but the eldest Uchiha beat him to the punch.

"I did. Had to show them where you were staying...and where they would be sleeping from now on."

Both Akira and Noboru turned to him. "Where they...wait...huh?" asked the sword-wielder.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Come on, it'll be easier to just show you. Make sure someone takes the damn bag, though. It has an emergency pair of clothes for Anza, and she _needs_ it." Getting off the steps, he and the rest of them marched up to the entrance, and slid the door open, showing off the well-maintained entryway. "Anza, Haruka, Noboru, Haku, Akira...welcome to the Uchiha Clan Head's mansion...and it's all yours."

"...are you kidding?"

"Nope. Let me show you around. Just a warning, my parent's were rather old fashioned, so there isn't that much 'modern' furniture." One by one, he gave everyone a much needed tour, taking them through each room, starting with the dining/living area, a relatively small room with a long coffee-table and six cushions at it's edges, then to the kitchen, which had all the necessities, like a fridge, oven, and even a dishwasher. Further inside were a guest bathroom, shower and all, two guest bedrooms that he and Itachi used to live in, some spare rooms that were used for storage when he was younger, and finally the master bedroom, the second largest room. The main part of it that everyone noticed was the queen-sized bed, and like the other beds, it had a dark blue comforter and pristine white pillows. Besides that, there was nothing other than sliding doors that led to a closet and the master bath, which had an extra bathtub to go along with the shower. At the end, only one room wasn't revealed, but he figured he didn't have to show _that_ one, they'd find it easily enough on their own. He just wanted to leave as fast as possible, before the long repressed feelings and memories came back, so he led the party of six back to the main hallway. "So...how do you guys like it?"

Haruka bounced up and down. "It's _awesome_! I can't believe I get to live in your dad's house! The _Clan Head_! Are you _sure_ this is okay?"

"How many times do I have to say it? It's _fine_. Better than it not being used at all, if you ask me. Make yourselves at home."

"...home?" Anza's voice cut through the air like a blade, earning everyone's attention. "Wrong...this is just another prison...no freedom, just the constant watch...of the Hokage." Ripping the backpack that was by all rights hers out of Noboru's hand, she shambled off towards the back, where they heard a door slid open and slam shut.

"...has she...been like that all day?" asked the red-dressed apprentice, getting a weak shrug from Haruka.

"I don't know...I've only been with her for half an hour. Kakashi? Is she okay?"

The jonin closed his eye, and shook his head. "No...no she's not...but I'm sure that if she get's used to having a place to call her own, having everyone she loves around, she'll get better." No one except Haruka seemed to believe him, and neither did he, but what was he supposed to say to someone so young? That her mother-figure might never fully return? No. He wouldn't do that. It was better to tell a hope...and pray he was right.

* * *

**A.N.: Finally, I finished this one! I know by now I probably sound like a broken record, but sorry for the large delay. Nothing would come to mind about _anything_. I hope this one is at least passable, I don't think it's one of the better ones I've written...**


	64. Chapter 64

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 64**

In the first time in a long time, Fu had finally gotten a decent night's sleep. For the past week she had been dealing with incontrolable tossing and turning, never ending trains of thought, and a constant need to hit herself in the face with her fist in order to bring herself closer to unconsciousness. That last one never worked, and only made her insomnia worse, but she had no problems with last night. Her green head hit the pillow, and she was _out_. Maybe it had something to do with her vengeful sister finally being able to have a proper life. Probably. Nevertheless, when the replacement member for Team Seven woke up and did a few stretches to warm up her body, she felt a general sense of ease, and her mind seemed more at peace, more focused. Feeling like a whole different person, Fu grinned ear to ear. 'Alright! Looks like I finally managed to get out of my funk! Kami, that was _horrible_! I've never felt so wrong in my entire life! At least it's gone now, and I can go back to being normal...but I wonder what it was all about, though?' Cracking her back for good measure, Fu left her room and made her way to the front of the Hokage's house with the stealthiness of a elephant, not caring if she woke anyone else up. 'I'm pretty sure I've felt something like that before...what was it called? Re...something...re...press..._de_press...depression? Yeah...I think that's right...an emptiness...why would I feel that now? Everything's starting to turn out for the better, not like when I lost her back then.' Blindly walking into the kitchen, she procured a glass of water, taking sips of it while still focusing on her current plight. 'Is it this thing called 'growing up' that Sasuke says I should do once in awhile? Worried sick about others, even though most of the time, they don't need my help? Heh...it might be…I guess it had to happen _sometime_...just didn't know when...or that it sucks so much.'

"Huh. So it seems I guessed correctly on who could have been making so much noise." The voice caused her to chuckle, and she turned to see the only other male living under the same roof as her. "Good morning, Fu."

"Well, good morning to you too, duckbutt. Just get up, I take it?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I've been awake for awhile now, but I didn't feel like coming out here. I had a rough time sleeping last night, and I was trying to get a few more z's before you stomped your way out. By then, I figured it was way past time to start getting ready, but surprisingly, it's seven anyway."

"Really?" The kunoichi turned to the nearest window and looked outside, where everything had a light and mellow shade of grey over the original colors. "Looks that way. Guess I wasn't really paying attention...but _you_ were having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"...what for?"

"If you were there to see what kind of mental state Anza was in, you'd understand."

"...oh. Right...she's...not right, isn't she?"

He let out a sharp, slightly angry-sounding sigh, and crossed his arms. "No, not at all. She hasn't _been_ the same since we caught up with her at that village, and I KNOW you've seen it. In the woods, and especially at the Valley. You can just tell from her eyes….god, I could spend the better part of the day debating whether what I saw in those horrid patterns were bloodlust or reluctance...maybe even both...and not a single word held the same meaning whenever she opened her mouth." His shoulders sank, and his face lost its hint of minor annoyance to a gloomy frown. "And that was _before_ yesterday. Her entire demeanor has changed since then. Something...something is definitely _very_ wrong with her, but besides the obvious, I don't know what. I'm not a doctor, I can't see into her like that...not anymore..."

Oh, Fu knew what he was talking about, all right. If anyone did, it was her. She was there, after all, staring up at her sister while she openly _cried_ during _battle_, right after going batshit insane and preparing to slaughter her old comrades in cold blood. "Yes, I have, but what's with you? Why are you so negative today?" Setting down her drink, she walked over to her teammate and went behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders, slowly rubbing them. "How about a good massage? It'll help, you know."

Immediately, Sasuke rose an eyebrow. "I'm being negative? I thought I was being normal."

"Yeeeah, you think? Whenever you mention Anza, you seem to mope! Not on my watch, you won't!"

"This coming from the girl who _likes_ it when I mope, because that usually means you've done something horrible to me. Remember the shower?"

"Don't know how I could ever forget it. 'It burns, it burns! Aaaahhh!'" The dark-skinned girl began to laugh while Sasuke proceeded to pout from the embarrassing memory.

"My point exactly…"

She stopped, but the jovial look that took over her face didn't go away, something the boy was absolutely certain of. "Sorry, but c'mon, it was funny!"

"Maybe to you...that reminds me, I have to get Minato to fix that...and what about the time I _tried_ to teach you swordplay since you wanted another technique in your repertoire?"

"Should have known better than to keep your Sharingan off."

"I didn't think you'd take the opportunity to aim so low!"

Fu rolled her eyes. "At least the sword you gave me was made of wood, and if it means anything to you now, I _really_ wasn't trying to hit you there, and we agreed that that kind of fighting wasn't..._right_...for me."

"I have a hard time believing you...and _then _there was the time with the frog…"

"...now I feel like you're just trying to get me to apologize for every little thing. He was just trying to make you his friend."

"As much as I'd _love_ it if you did, I'm just trying to say that you like having me suffer for whatever reasons you have in that head of yours, and that's it's strange that you'd try to make me feel better when it's in line with what you do in the first place." The moment those words hit the air Sasuke felt Fu's hands stop with their perpetual rubbing, and for a what felt like hours there was only silence between them, with the occasional wind reminding them that time was still flowing outside.

"Well...yeah...but…" Her voice died in her throat, and the rest of her sentence became a garbled bunch of noise that he couldn't understand one bit, so he turned his head as much as he could to hear her a little better.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I didn't hear that. Could you say it again, please?"

"I said...ehsvutne…"

"Still gibberish-"

"I said 'it's not me'!" She unhanded the Uchiha, who decided it might be best to turn around. "I mean...I _do_ like to hurt you sometimes, but I don't really mean it like that. I only do it because...that's all I know _to_ do when I get close to someone. Back during my time in Taki, no one would give me the time of day, and when Anza _finally_ gave me the attention I wanted for so long, it came with aggressive bumps on the head or full on assaults when I got here. When something or someone _else_ makes you sad or angry, I don't take kindly to it, or to the fact that it gets to you _so much_. I mean, before she resurfaced, you were mainly a sweet, devoted friend who wanted to reunite with Anza, but now I see a raincloud starting to take a permanent stop over your head, with your constant worrying." Lightly smiling, Fu playfully punched her downer teammate in the chest. "So come on, how many times do I have to say it? Stop worrying like the entire world is coming to an end. Minato, Kushina, and even Mito need some stability in their lives with all that's going on, and it seems like we're going to have to be that for them, at least for awhile. They don't need you sinking into the same problems as well."

Sasuke let out a quiet chuckle. "Sorry. I should have realized that there was a good reason for your antics, and shouldn't have accused you of doing it just to see my reaction...and I'll try. Really, if that's what will make you happy, but...just don't expect that it will happen, at least not any time soon."

In response, she gave him a quizzical look. "And why not? Did something happen to traumatize you to become the worrywort you are?" It came out as a joke, but Sasuke's glance shifted to the side for a second, and it didn't take her long to figure out she stepped on the right spot. Unfortunately, that was also the time a certain _event_ came back to the forefront of her mind, one which the boy witnessed the aftermath of, causing her to grimace at her own insensitivity. "...crap. Um...damn, I'm...sorry, I...forgot about the Massacre…"

"No, no...it's alright...by now I've come to terms with what happened, more or less, but...that's not why…" As if he was caught doing something unsatisfactory by his own mother, his mouth twisted into a miserable glower, and it didn't take long before his head went side-to-side. "Nevermind. Sorry, my words outpaced my thoughts. I guess I really _am_ stressed with all that's going on."

"Wait. Go back. What did you say at the end there?"

"Nothing. It was nothing." It only took one look to know that wasn't enough to dissuade her, so he sighed, and tried to smile. "Really, it's not that big a deal. It's just something that happened a...long time ago, now, and really doesn't matter. I don't know _why_ it came out. Can we move onto something else?"

Fu's brows scrunched together, _completely_ unhappy about this, but what could she do? Cast a genjutsu on him to make him squeal? If he didn't want to say anything, there weren't any techniques she could use to make him do so. "Alright...if you're sure…"

"I am. Thank you for...understanding."

"Understand? Oh, hell no, I don't understand at _all_, but I'll respect your wish...just this once. The next time you let something slip, you're going to have to try a lot harder to get rid of me, just so you know."

"I'll remember that."

The mint haired teen shrugged off how easily he let the 'threat' bounce off of him, and took a long overdue sip at her water. "So, what is this 'something else'? It sounded like you had something you wanted to talk about."

"I did, but let's take a seat first. I'm tired of standing." Sasuke turned around and headed for the living room, with Fu following, and they both decided to plop down on the couch, where the Uchiha leaned over onto his arm rest, letting his gaze settle on their dark reflections on the black, mirror-like T.V. "I know you're going to go see Anza today."

"_No,_ me?" His onyx eyes darted to her with an 'are you serious' shine to them, and she smirked. "Well, yeah. Why, you telling me not to?"

"No. I would never keep you from her. She's your sister, and things are already bad between you and her. I won't make it worse. I simply wanted to ask you a favor."

"Shoot, then."

"I highly doubt it will happen, but if she asks about getting new clothes, could you take her to get some? I...told her I would, but...I'm not ready to go back in that house again. I need to get _my_ head on straight, or else I can't help get hers back in place."

"That's it? I thought you'd ask me to go fix the damn plumbing or replace the roof piece by piece. Yeah, I think I can do that. Don't worry about it."

All she got was a simple nod. "Thanks...again."

"No problem. Well…" The former jinchuuriki chugged the rest of her drink, and after setting it onto the table, she stood up, letting out a heavily exaggerated sigh. "...I'm gonna get ready, then. I want to get to Anza's as soon as possible."

"Alright. I'll give you the directions to my old place when you come back down." With that, Fu left him to his own devices, and with her gone, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to bring himself back down to normal after that conversation. Unfortunately for him, such a simple act wouldn't help him in the slightest. His mind just kept wandering back to how close he was to letting her know what he was feeling, and counting his blessings for how quick he was to save face...but... '...why? It would have been so easy to just tell her...but I just...I can't. My problems are nothing in comparison to Anza's. I need to be more careful...I can't risk someone shifting even the slightest attention away from her and onto me..._I _don't need the help. I can't let things happen like before...not like what happened to mom, dad, and Itachi...'

**-_later_-**

Konoha was a big place, far bigger than the people who have lived there since birth or for a couple decades actually realize. Case in point, after having given up on specific instructions since she had little to no knowledge of certain landmarks and was told to just go southwest until she found a place that 'simply bleeds Uchiha' by her literal next-door neighbor, Fu _still_ hadn't found it after around thirty minutes, if only because...uh...she _didn't know what he meant_ and didn't bother to ask. Thanks to that little lack of detail, she had no clue as to what house was the _correct_ one, and her patience was starting to thin. 'Okay, this is getting me _nowhere_!' Growling, she stopped on top of some random guy's roof, and crossed her arms in frustration. 'You would think that after living here for some time now, I'd know my way around this place, but _nooooooo_! I've never even bothered to go down this section before! Everything's new to me! Grrr...I guess it's my fault...I've only gone to the places the others brought me to, not exploring like I should have...another thing I've got to fix...first, though, I've got to find this damn house...but how? It's not like I can-' Her amber pools widened at the thought. 'Wait...can I feel Chomei? I know I've done it before, but...well...can't hurt to try.' Pivoting her head around to take in the most out of the vast expanse that was the village, Fu tried to focus on the Nanabi's powerful, nearly ungodly chakra...but her search ended up a failure, as she didn't feel a drop of _anything_. 'Damn...guess not...Anza must have to be using it if I want to sense him...why couldn't I have been born as a sensor? I wouldn't be in this mess if I was...oh well, guess I have to try something else out…' Jumping off, the kunoichi landed gracefully into the street, and without a care brazenly went up to a building's front door and knocked on it. Before long, the knob turned, and it opened, revealing...a middle-aged man, barely dressed enough to walk in daylight and eyes barely open, obviously still trying to wake up.

"...yes? What do you…(_yawn)_ want?"

A sheepish grin formed on Fu's face, and she began to back away from him. "Sorry, I thought maybe someone else lived here. Didn't mean to intrude. Bye!" The man groaned, ultimately closing the door, and she continued moving down the path that she was pretty sure was southwest, and knocked on the next house, only to be met with similar results. Not to be disswayed, she repeated it with every house she came across, figuring it was her best bet anyway at this point if she didn't want to sulk back to Minato's. After what could have been the fiftieth, some households started to ignore her entirely...which became increasingly odd after a chain of them appeared...a first...then a second...then the third...then the fourth in a row. '...this...doesn't seem right...am I in an abandoned part of town?' Deciding to get a better view, Fu went back up onto the rooftops and scanned the area, and her blood slowly lowered its temperature as it became obvious that she was right. Barely a sound reached her ears, only coming from either the rustling of the trees or from the more active part of Konoha she had left behind, and not a soul could be seen making their ways around the roads, despite the ludicrous amounts of people that normally bob-and-weave between their fellows trying to make it to work or some-such. It was...eerie, even for someone who grew up alone in the bowels of society. 'And Sasuke's parent's house was somewhere down this way? Then...a lot of Uchiha must have lived here...which means...he...' Her spine sent out a shudder, but it got under control rather quickly. 'No Fu, now's not the time to dwell on it...but I know what I'm doing when I get home…' Taking off again, she restarted her search, but with a better idea on what to look out for, it didn't take too long to find a place she thought would be fit for the head of a clan, size and all, and promptly smacked her forehead. '...shit, I'm dumb. The place has the _same friggin' symbol_ that's on the back of Sasuke's shirt all over the place. The roof even has the same shade of blue that he wears! What are the odds of _that_! Ugh...ladies and gentlemen, a true ninja, in the flesh!' Sighing, she got off her vantage point, and when she got to the fan-emblazoned door, knocked on it like the others. In the back of her mind, she half expected no one to answer, maybe being completely wrong, but that was thrown right out when the door slid to the side.

"...Fu?" For a second, said member of Team Kakashi had to step back to figure out just who was in front of her. The voice was most definitely Haku's, and his face was on this person's body, but with how he was dressed, he was even more confusing than before. The hair he usually kept up in a bun was free and cascaded down his back, that while it wasn't as long as his leader's, it was still quite impressive and made him lose what little masculinity he had in his features, and the Ice Release user was wearing a...very feminine looking pink, sleeveless kimono with pale red edges, decorated with purple swirls, bound together by a white obi, and hid his legs from view entirely.

"...Haku?"

"Yes?"

"...Kami...are you _entirely_ sure you're a guy?!"

"Last time I checked." He frowned. "Don't tell me I need to strip for you to believe me."

Fu's face lit up faster than a firecracker, and she frantically waved her hands in front of her. "N-n-no! I believe you! Please, don't do take off your clothes!"

"Good. I wouldn't like a repeat of something so embarrassing."

"You...actually had to do that?"

"No...Anza did it for me."

"...ew."

"Imagine what it was like for _me_. Anyway, is there a...particular reason as to why you're here?"

Her head snapped back into focus. "Uh...yeah. Sorry. I wanted to see you guys for a bit. Took me _forever_ to find this place. Maybe an hour! You'd be astounded how hard it is to find a single home in a sea of houses."

"...you...you _do_ realize you might have been able to find us quicker if you asked someone, right? This is...or, _was_, the home of a very prominent family in Konoha, I'm sure there would have been at least one person who knew where it was." The older teenager couldn't help but watch as Fu facepalmed yet again, groaning as if the action hurt a lot more than it looked.

"God...dammit...another thing I forgot...this is what I get for skipping breakfast…"

A small laugh came from Haku, who afterward smiled at her. "Well, in any case, I think it'll be alright if you were to come inside for a bit. Anza doesn't seem to be in a _terrible_ mood at the moment, and I was just about to prepare something for her to eat, as she finally came out of her room, alongside seconds for everyone else, since Haruka won't stop bothering me about it. You can join us, if you'd like."

"Really? Yes, please! I'm starving!" With that, the second-in-command retreated back inside, and she went with him, closing the door as she did. A few seconds later, they entered what had to be the dining room, with all the people and empty plates sitting at the edges of the table. Their footsteps drew the attention of all but one, Anza, who was resting her head on top of her hands and looked cleaner than when Fu last visited her, complete with properly changing into a pair of black track pants identical to the ones that her twin usually wears and a size-too-small light grey t-shirt, embroidered with an Uzumaki swirl on it's front, strangely missing her Chimera jacket. The smallest apprentice, grinning like an idiot, waved at her. She waved back, of course, but not nearly as enthusiastically. Anza was still a wildcard, after all. "So...where can I sit?"

"You can take my spot next to Haruka. I have to get started on the food, especially as now there's another mouth to feed." Haku walked a lap around the room, taking the plates from the three students and retreating into the kitchen while Fu sank next to the coffee-addicted eight-year old.

"Well...uh...how...how was the first night?" she asked after a few awkward seconds, not really knowing what to say to people she literally just saw yesterday.

Akira let out a nervous chuckle. "Not gonna lie, it was a little creepy. Knowing the room you stayed in once housed a complete nutcase who killed his mom, dad, and several others made sleeping a bit of a challenge, but I got over it. My real problem is finding the bathroom. I already forgot where it was by the time I woke up, and accidentally found sensei's and Haruka's room instead."

Fu rose an eyebrow. "You got Itachi's room?"

He nodded. "And Noboru got Sasuke's."

"I got the better end of the deal this time." commented the sword-wielder, getting his friend to roll his eyes.

"Only because we forgot to do rock-paper-scissors, otherwise _I_ would have it...but I'll let you keep it. I'm feeling generous."

"...then...where does Haku sleep?" Fu brought herself back into the conversation, refocusing the large blacksmith.

"With sensei and Haruka."

"T-the bed's that large?!"

"Apparently. I was surprised, usually Haku stays a 'respectable' distance, as he's told me, while they sleep."

"I asked him to." said the resident Uchiha, but as the others turned to face her, she made them wait by slurping up half of her mug of brown liquid. "There were no other beds for him to lay on, and I felt bad for him, so I asked, and mom said she didn't care when he voiced his opinion, so I gave him the puppy-dog eyes, and he caved. Stayed at the edge, though."

"...you're serious, aren't you? I never took Haku as one to fall for something like that."

Haruka smiled. "Yep! Just ask him, he'll confirm it!"

He shook his head. "I think I'm good." Things went silent for a while, with only their breathing and the effeminate male's movements in the other room filling the air. Noboru, Akira, and Haruka were fine with it, using the time they had to just relax and think...not Fu. She had come over to visit Anza and not much else, but every time she tried to say _something_, she froze, mainly from fear, but also that blank, unfeeling stare that her sister had. Not once did she turn to look at her, or bother with a flicker of her eyes. Anza didn't even _twitch_ when she got so close to her. She was just...out of it, utterly and completely, almost like her soul was...gone, which didn't help with the situation at all. Haruka, being one of the more observant of the group, noticed her distraught face after a glance, and turned to Anza, elbowing her in the ribs.

"Mom." The action did nothing more than move her body slightly, so she did it again. "Mom." Again. "Mom!"

Finally, she got a reaction. The Namikaze's amethyst jewels shifted to the right, barely able to see the dark-haired child. "...what?"

"I think Fu wants to talk to you."

"...hmph." She went back to her staring contest with the wall, shutting down both girls from any attempt to converse with her, leaving Fu with a twisted stomach, but luckily for them, Haku came back with breakfast - pan seared fish with bowls of rice - which took multiple trips to get all the dishes onto the table.

"I'm sorry if this isn't to your liking. Yesterday evening, I told Noboru to go get enough food to last us a couple days, but little did I know that he'd come back with bags full of fish. Different kinds of fish, granted, but fish nonetheless. I won't make the same mistake twice." he apologized to the former jinchuuriki, giving a dark glare to the flame-colored man as he finished his tale.

Fu put on a grin to hide her discomfort. "It's alright. I like them both, and they smell and look great. If they taste half as good as they look, you must put a lot of care into your cooking."

Haku bowed his head. "Thank you, but I'd hold the praise until after you've had a bite. Looks don't tell you what's under the surface."

"Touche…" Picking up the chopsticks he left with her, she picked off a piece of the white meat and wolfed it down, quite liking it's sweet flavor and how easily it tore apart as she chewed. "Oh man...this is perfect!" Soon, she found herself quickly devouring what was left, all the while getting a giggle out of the cook before he, and everyone else, joined her in eating, even the stiff-as-a-board Uzumaki, after much..._much_ poking and prodding by Haruka. As a result, breakfast didn't last long after that, and with a full stomach, the little assassin jumped up onto her feet.

"Alllllright! Mom's awake, and we've ate! I think we're good to go!"

The youngest of the Miramashians cringed at the excited tone in her voice. "...crap...when you're like this, it's never good for the rest of us…"

"Oh, come on! Not this time!"

"Yeah...forgive me for not believing you."

She pouted. "I'm serious! We're going to train!"

"Train? Haruka, shouldn't we wait awhile? Cramps, and all that?" asked Akira for his friend, but the Uchiha shook her head.

"We'll be fine, it's just chakra control! Not too physically demanding, right? And with mom back, I know we can do it, finally!"

"...no." Those were the first words Anza had spoken unprompted, and understandably, it took a minute for them to register in her daughter's ears, but when they did, she slowly turned to her, mouth agape.

"...what?"

"I'm not doing it. I don't want to...not today."

Visible to all the onlookers, her bottom lip started quivering, but like a switched had been flipped, a disarming smile wormed it's way back to the surface, hiding whatever stunned silence she had with it. "I know you're kidding. You're just in a bad mood because you had to deal with grandpa for a long time yesterday, but luckily for you, _I_ know what makes you smile! And that is making us go through the wringer! So c'mon, it'll make you feel better!"

"Haruka, please reconsider. It would be best to give Anza a few days, at least, of resting before having her do anything. Obviously her time in jail has stressed her considerably, and she probably isn't ready to go back to teaching after what's she's gone through in the past few weeks." Haku _tried_ to reason with her, but his concerns seemed to fall on deaf ears, as she shrugged off his concerns like they were nothing more than feathers landing onto her shoulders.

"Nonsense! If anything, it'll be like a challenge for her, and she likes challenges!"

"...are we even talking about the same thing here? _Look_ at her, Haruka. This isn't something you can make her overcome with force."

"Won't know until we try!" Deciding to close the argument, she hauled Anza off her seat, and started lugging her around behind her, looking for the way to the backyard. Not sure what to do, the former civilians sat there, twiddling their thumbs before reluctantly getting up and following her, knowing all too well that she'd more than likely come back and get them anyway.

Haku started massaging his temples, letting out a long sigh as he did. "This...this isn't going to turn out well, I know it…" After taking a minute to let his approaching headache wane, he also stood up. "Come on. No use staying here, we may as well go with them." Nodding, Fu didn't waste anytime in falling in step behind the man, and they caught up with the others quickly, thanks to the relative slow pace that Haruka had set. They journeyed a ways through the small bit of forest that the land had, stopping once they found three practically made-for-walking trees that each trainee could use as their own.

"This looks like a good spot! What do you think, mom?" asked the Uchiha.

Anza, after picking the small hand off her arm, just shook her head at the child. "It doesn't matter. I didn't want to do this anyway...why do you even need my attention?"

She turned to face her surrogate parent. "Uh...I thought I said it back at the house...and at grandpa's office...we kinda need you if we want to complete the tree exercise."

"_Why_? I've told you, _all_ of you, how to do it over a thousand times, there's nothing more I can say."

Haruka's eyes drifted downward, and she began rubbing her exposed left forearm under the steely gaze of the jinchuuriki. "I...I know, you've been over this with me so many times I've memorized it...but I thought that, after we almost lost you, having you around again would help our spirits, especially since the only thing we've succeeded with is sparring, and that sucks, 'cause I always win. So please...can you just...stay here with us? It...would mean a lot if you did..." At first, her begging wasn't working, with the pale teen still glowering down at her, but as she tried to think of something else that would convince Anza to stay there, the expression on her face softened, and a light exhale came out of her nose.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. My thoughts...aren't entirely my own at the moment. I just have...so many things going on in my head. I'll watch you practice, or...at least try...but afterwards, I'd like to be left alone for awhile so I can think."

Haruka's eyes went wide. "You will?" A hesitant nod, and she bear-hugged her poor teacher, squeezing and crushing everything her small arms could get around. "Yes! Thank you!" Letting go, she immediately turned to one of the trees. "You heard her! We can get started!" Her 'juniors' only had enough time to exchange glances before she charged, closing the distance in a second and beginning her own ascent without them. Didn't get far, only taking two steps toward the top, and Haruka fell back to earth, twisting her body around so that she could catch herself. In embarrassment, she quietly giggled. "Heh...heheh...I got a little ahead of myself there...forgot the most important part...chakra. Can't climb a tree with your feet without it..."

Noboru facepalmed. "Kami, Haruka...sometimes I forget just how old you really are...take it down a notch, will ya? This exercise isn't worth breaking a few bones over."

"I know...I made a mistake. Having mom back is making me antsy, but it won't happen again!"

"I hope so. I don't want to carry you to the hospital just for a broken ankle or hand."

"Oh, shut up and just join me, already!" He snickered at her exasperation, and he and Akira took up stations around her, ready to once again try their hands at the task that has been besting them for a better part of their training, placing their feet on the bark and focusing their chakra into their soles. Noboru was the first to try to take another step, but like he expected, the connection didn't hold out and he slipped back down before he could make it, a result that both his fellow students couldn't avoid. Not to be deterred, they kept at it, slowly starting to regain the little amount of ground they lost due to their break.

While the trio went on tripping themselves, Fu, with nothing else to do, sat down on the long, wild grass to watch. 'Wow...they really mean business, don't they? Despite looking grim just a minute ago, both of those two are matching Haruka in drive. If only their master would do the same…' And like that, her attention shifted back to her sister, boring holes into Anza's form as she stood like a stone. 'You've never been like this...nothing has ever been bad enough to where you've looked so...troubled...not even when we first met...what's going on, Anza? Why aren't you speaking? Why are you avoiding everyone?' Almost in accordance with her thoughts, the pale girl's body twitched back to life and she began taking steps away from Fu, settling on a tree far away from the group, letting her back rest on the grooves of the aged wood. Furrowing her brow as her frustration increased, the mossy-haired ninja's mind rattled on as she tried to discern her old guardian's actions. No...Fu knew _why_, the jinchuuriki herself told them, but something was missing, something only _she_ could answer, and yet…

"I'm sure you know it's rude to stare, especially when that person doesn't want to be stared at."

The sudden voice jolted her back to her senses, and now startled, her head flailed side to side until she spotted the perpetrator only a foot or two next to her. "God damnit Haku...I should have known it was you, but you still nearly caused me to jump out of my skin!"

The sneaky young man smiled softly. "Sorry, it wasn't my intention to scare you." Haku quickly changed back to his normal, serious demeanor, and he took a seat next to her. "I just so happened to look back here, and seeing you so focused on Miss Anza...well, it peaked my interest."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Did I look I was forming an evil plan, or something?"

Haku sighed as he felt the defensive chill in her words. "No...not at all. Have...have I offended you somehow? As far as I now, I've been doing my best to be amiable…"

She immediately lightened up at how confused he sounded. "No, no, you've...done nothing wrong. I'm just a little...on edge...with you around."

"What? Why...oh. It's because I tried to kill you, isn't it?"

"Yeeeeeah...It's hard to ignore that, even though you seem like such a nice guy. I mean, you let me join in on your breakfast! A cold hearted killer wouldn't do that..."

"...but you just can't help feeling like I'll try to finish the job, can you?" Fu made a face that made her look like she got hit, but nodded in confirmation. "I see. It probably won't make you feel better, but I only did that because Anza told me too. I won't kill you, not unless something like that happens again."

"No...it doesn't it. In fact, that almost makes it worse…"

"Then...maybe you can consider it like this. I only did what I thought was best for us...for her."

Fu tilted her head. "...for...Anza?"

"Correct. After Madara's associate used what I can only assume to be a jutsu, I stood and watched as her aura became heavy and oppressive, nearly suffocating me in it's thickness, and her eyes shone with a singular, lofty goal in mind. I knew that feeling, that look...they were similar to the ones my old master had every day, and I knew, at that moment, there was nothing I could say to appease her. I may not agree with what she decided to do afterward, but if I

hadn't gone with her, she may have broke completely, and...I didn't want to lose another person as important to me as her, so I joined her crusade. I'm sorry it had to turn out that way, but there was nothing against you or your friends. I simply had to stick with my leader."

She whistled, and her hand wandered up to her neck, massaging it nervously. "Wow...okay, apology...accepted? I don't know, this is gonna take some getting used to..."

The boy flashed a smile. "I expect nothing less, just a chance."

"That's...reasonable, I guess." Fu stopped the aimless action, and put her hand back into her lap. "Welp, if we're really going to try to make this work...can I ask you something?"

"Why, yes, I don't see why not."

"You've lived with her for a...long time, right? Do you think you know her pretty well?"

Haku raised a brow. "In some ways, why?"

"Well...you see, me and Sasuke, we discussed something earlier...about Anza; that she's been changing, and I...I agree with him. Compared to two years ago, to the meeting at the field, and finally the Valley, she's been getting more...aggressive…much more willing to hurt us."

"Ah...so that is why you were staring at her."

"Yeah, and I need to know...is that something you've noticed? Has she really changed, or is it something we're making up?" Her question now hanging in the air, the Yuki tilted his head back while he took account of his time with the Namikaze, staring into the brilliant blue skies peeking through the swaying branches. Unfortunately for her, it was near impossible for Fu to make out whether or not he stumbled upon something in his thoughts due to his face seemingly being frozen in place, and after several seconds, her hopes started to dwindle when he showed no signs of any eureka moments. Soon, they were smashed entirely when he ended up shaking his head.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can give you the answer you're looking for. Despite us living together for so long, we haven't interacted as much as you might think. Making small talk, letting ourselves be open to each other...we didn't do that. Our relationship is purely business, even though, if someone were to ask, I'd list her as a friend. I wouldn't know about this 'change' you're describing."

Disappointment brought a shadow over his acquaintance, who barely managed a sigh. "It's...alright. I just thought that, since you two worked so well together, you'd be able to help me figure this out...why she forgot everything..." Fu let loose a shallow chuckle. "...guess not."

Now it was Haku's turn to squirm a little. What he said was quite obviously not what she wanted to hear, and he could tell by the vibes she was emitting that she was in no mood to continue, so he decided that it would be best to not push his luck with her, turning back to the three apprentices as they worked hard to impress their not-all-there teacher. If he hadn't, he would have anyway, as a large *crack* resounded through the woods, and his gaze fell onto the young Uchiha, who was on her rear, and looking past her, there was a large chunk of the bark missing from the tree ."Are you alright, Haruka?" he called out, getting a nod.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it!" Getting up and brushing herself of the dirt, Haruka scowled at the bane of her existence. 'That hasn't happened in a long time...I usually don't focus enough chakra for that to happen. What's my deal today? First I forget to even add chakra to my feet, now I put too much. This isn't going well...I'm taking steps back instead of getting better!' She growled, but knowing that getting frustrated wouldn't do her any good, the mini-merc opted to slap her face to get herself straightened out. 'No, I can do this...mom's watching me. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this…' Taking a quick breath, she went back to the exercise, and this time, she let herself go. One, two, fall, one, two, fall, one, two, fall...that was the pattern, with next to no variation. It started to fill her head, pushing out everything else. Her want, her need, the pressure she felt whenever she thought of her mother's eyes beating down her back...all of it started to fade away, leaving only action and the feeling of the grain. '_One, two, fall_.' To Haruka, this was normal. She always became like this when she tries hard, how else could she do hundreds of push-ups without fail? '_One, two, fall_.' She couldn't feel her legs moving anymore, but somehow she still made her way up the tree. '_One, two, fall. One. Two. Fall.'_ Never stopping...never ending motion...she would do this until the end of time if she had to. '_One, two, fall. One, two, fall. One, two, three, fall. One, two...wait…'_ Reality rushed back in a second, slightly disorienting the eight-year old and sending her plummeting back to earth, landing on her back with a dull thud.

When they heard that, Noboru and Akira finished up their own sessions and rushed over, with Haku and Fu joining quickly after, forming a tight circle around her body. "Hey! What happened?" asked the biggest of the four. When he didn't get an immediate response, he began to gently shake her. "Hey! You okay?"

"Heh...heh…hehe...hahaha!"

To his surprise, she simply began to grin and giggle. "What's so funny?"

Haruka pumped her fists into the air. "I did it! I finally did it!" Ignoring him, and the barrier in general, she jumped back onto her feet and sprinted over to Anza. "Mom! MOM!"

It took a second for the Fourth's progeny to recognize that she was being yelled at, but when she did, she looked at Haruka much quicker than the last time. "...hm?"

"Did you see?! I did it!"

"Did what?"

At this point, Haruka was practically jumping up and down. "I made it to three steps on the exercise! I'm getting better! Well...I _think_ I am...I could have miscounted, but I swear, I counted three!"

"Oh...good for you."

Four words. With just those four, empty-sounding words, it was like the happiness was slapped off of her face. "...huh? Wait...m-mom...did...did you not see me?"

The jinchuuriki shook her head. "No, sorry." She sighed. "I promised you I would, but I can't do this. I'm going back." Pushing her body off the tree, she turned away from her daughter and started on her way back, leaving her to stare at where she once stood, arms dangling at her sides like they were lifeless toys.

Seeing this, Fu couldn't stop a snarl from taking shape, her blood boiling from her sister's lack of empathy. 'Kami...did she just say that to her?! Haruka looks like she's about to cry! No, I can't accept this!' While the rest went over to the little girl, Team Kakashi's fifth member stormed past them, hot on Anza's trail. Once she caught up to her and they got a sizable distance away, she let loose on her tirade. "What the _hell_ is wrong with you, Anza?!"

Anza came to a halt. "Fu...not now."

"Excuse me?! Did you not SEE what you just did to Haruka?! You just crushed that poor girl's feelings! She, who spent so much time worrying if you were okay while you were imprisoned! She, who only wanted you to watch as she grows, like you did before! And you just spit in her face?! Are you serious?!"

"That wasn't my intentions…"

"I don't care what your intentions were! That was just plain wrong! You PROMISED to her that you would try, but from what I saw, you didn't try at all! It was like you were in your own little world over there, not caring that your students wanted your guidance!"

Anza pressed a hand up to the side of her head, as if the whole conversation to her was a massive headache she just wanted to squeeze out. "Shut up...I don't need to hear this from you...I know that it wasn't right, but I can't...I can't focus right now, not with you around...not with...everyone breathing down my neck…"

"No! I won't do that! I won't sit on the sidelines while you rip the ground from under someone like that! You need to go back there and do the right thing!"

That last sentence caused the missing-nin to whip her head around, and she looked at Fu with nothing short of murderous intents, and for a split second, the former host of Chomei saw a red light flicker in her purple jewels. "LEAVE ME ALONE." With that, Anza continued onward, while Fu let out an angry huff.

"The Anza I know would never have done that...ever." She too turned to leave, this time check on Haruka, but found she couldn't, her feet refused to lift off of the ground. "Huh?" Looking down, a sense of deja vu rolled through her body as she saw large, thick roots crawl out of the ground and up her legs, slowly dragging her downward. "No...oh no...aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

* * *

When Fu came to, she expected to be still out there in the woods, but as she opened her heavy eyes, she spied a roof over her, and when her hands began to feel around, she could tell that she was on a bed, with it's satin sheets. 'A...bedroom? But...whose? Mine? If so...how?' She tried to turn her head, but a great, throbbing pain stopped her, and she let out a groan. 'Right...Anza put me in a genjutsu...it felt like this last time, too…' Body protesting all the way, she managed to sit up and throw her legs out to the side. Looking to her left, she saw a familiar drawer, alarm clock and all, confirming that she was indeed back home. As she tried to think of the 'how', the door clicked open, drawing her attention to the man in the dark blue high-collar, cup of steaming liquid in hand.

"Ah, so you're awake."

"Sasuke? But...when did I get back?"

He joined her on the bed. "Haku dropped you off, said he found you unconscious and suffering from a genjutsu. Is that correct?"

Glumly, she nodded. "A little bit...Anza is a dick…"

Sasuke tried to smile, and he offered the tea to her. "Here. This should help with the headache."

"Thanks." Taking it, she started to sip it down. "Why does something so seemingly harmless hurt so much?"

"Well, they attack your brain and your senses, so it's only natural."

"Yeah yeah, I get it, that was rhetorical question…"

He had to laugh at that. To bad it couldn't last, he had to ask about the elephant in the room. "So I take it the visit with Anza didn't go well?"

"Not at all. She didn't speak much, and when she did, she was unusually...distant, and harsh. Poor Haruka…she didn't even know what was going on…"

That little bit piqued his interest, but he didn't pursue that line of questioning in light of Fu's predicament, standing up. "I should let you rest, no need to let your headache become something worse. We can talk later, okay?"

"Alright...if you say so…"

Nodding, the Uchiha heir left the room, closing the door politely as he went...but he didn't go anywhere. Instead, his teeth clenched in fury. 'Dammit all...this isn't right...none of this is right…' Instinctively, he drew his hand over his left pouch, the place where he kept his wallet, and his team photo. 'This never should have happened...she was never suppose to end up like this...I have to do something…'

* * *

**A.N. ...well...I think I've got some explaining to do. It's been a while since I've last updated...a...very long while...and there really isn't a good reason. When Christmas rolled around, I decided to take some time off and enjoy myself a bit, and it snowballed from there. Games I was interested in came out and I put several days into (cough cough Fire Emblem), and...I got hit HARD with the writer's block. Nothing came to mind any more, and I eventually just grew sick at looking at the same white screen for hours on end and that this chapter was just so bad that it shouldn't see the light of day, so that made it even worse...not to mention I began having this underlying fear that I was growing worse at writing as time went on, and that what I have planned is HORRIBLE. It...went out of control, but hopefully I've gotten past all that. Just...gotta...resist...urge...to play...Monster Hunter...forever...**

**Probably Jesus (this is gonna be long, tried to organize it in order): Don't know if you're going to see this...I hope so, otherwise this will be weird...thanks for all the good points. I know, the rape thing was cliche as FUCK, but at that time, I really couldn't think of anything else that would get me the desired results. What you wrote was INFINITELY better, I just suck at tragic backstories, so I'm sorry that's a bit disappointing. Same thing with the blood lust thing (assuming it's about the bandits). I thought that if, say, that were to happen to me, I would want to kill anyone like that too. Not a good baseline, but I tried to think about it...failed. If you mean with her parents...again, I used myself as a baseline, as it's hard to ask anyone this kind of thing, so her trying to get justice, getting them to leave her alone, and ultimately a 'deadly' battle seemed okay to me...bottom line and repeating theme, I suck. Now, her moves...I gave her everything I thought she'd need to rival Mito, and, admittedly, Mito alone, who is essentially Naruto in this world. Naruto, as we know, is a badass one man army who's faster than his dad, practically as strong (and later much..._much_ stronger) as Hashirama, and so on and so forth. Looking back, yeah, I went a little overboard...mainly with the Hiraishin, and I should have probably given it to Sasuke...I want to remedy that and give my main characters more power, but I don't know how to do that, not well. Concerning Fu and the students, that was almost intentional. Fu was the jinchuuriki, but gave up the power to live a normal-ish life, and unfortunately got dragged into a sucky life by Anza. Noboru and Akira are the obscenely normal men who just can't compare to everyone else. I do want to flesh them out more, but right now I have Anza, Mito, their parent's, and Sasuke to work on and deal with. And those names? My apologies if I don't quite understand what you're asking, but...Discordia was just a dramatization of discord turned into a name and it matches what Anza wanted to do at that time, Chimera is a just a cool mythological (and real! Seriously, just...not anything like the paintings) creature I decided to throw in, and Umbra is just shadow in Latin. Yes, it makes next to no sense as to why it's there, but at the time I thought it was cool. Anza's name...heh...uh, it actually didn't _come_ from anything. I literally thought up that name before bed. While I was doing that flashback, I looked at some translated words hoping that I could find a match, and I did: buririansu, or brilliance. I know, basic right? And you haven't demotivated me...I demotivate myself, because only I know how strange this is going to get, all in the name of putting Anza on the right track, and I'm with you on the hugging thing...I want them to reconcile too.**

**Guest 1: ...I did, didn't I? Yuri is still in the works, but it has to be on the back burner for now while I do some other things. And if I told you that, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, eh?**

**Guest 2: Well...sorry, but she's going to remain in Konoha for a bit. This is where I want my plot to take place, with her estranged family. The Akatsuki and Orochimaru aren't invited just yet, and why? Minato is a pretty decent guy...it's his daughter whose the dick to everyone.**


	65. Chapter 65

**Amidst the Hate: Chapter 65**

* * *

His heart was pounding in his chest, hands clammy, breathing deep and slow. The silence of death covered every house he walked by, and blood was everywhere he looked. The sun flashed in and out of existence, letting the moon share it's reign over Konoha. A little faster did his feet carry him, away from the shadows that still haunted this path. He could still see them working at their run-down, rotting stalls, giving out food to the playful children and their diligent overseers; the windows darkening as families hugged each other as they went to bed; them waving to him as a sign of their loyalty to his bloodline. A tremor went down Sasuke's back. What was he thinking, going the long way there? Last time, he could force it all down thanks to having people keeping his thoughts centered, but now that he was alone...he couldn't stop thinking back to that night. It was like no matter what he did, no matter how long he ignored it, it stayed right there, waiting for him to turn around and look upon what it wrought. Well, he wouldn't. Picking up the pace, the Uchiha heir began to jog, and then sprint towards his goal, following the map that was etched into his memory from the long journeys home from the Academy, never paying the hands in his peripheral trying to drag him back any heed. Unsurprisingly, he found himself on the final stretch not long after, and the young man only slowed down once he felt the cobblestone walkway under his feet. 'Alright...finally made it.' he thought, and continued, taking short, steady steps towards the front door. Once there, he didn't bother knocking, and ventured inside...but the house was just as silent as the way there. 'Odd...is anyone home?' Sasuke made his way to the living room, where it sat, empty. "Apparently not...maybe they're outside? Haruka and the others do like to train early in the morning...yeah, that's probably it." Tiptoeing past the table, he found the rear entrance and slid the door open. To his relief, he could spot a familiar black mass at the outer edge of the forest, picking at a helpless tree with a kunai, sending shards of bark flying down onto the ground. "Hey!" She didn't stop, so he got closer, and repeated himself. "Hey! Good morning?"

Haruka paused, and turned for a second, giving him a glance of her sour face. "...oh. Sasuke. Sorry, didn't hear you. Thought maybe Haku was back." His clansmen went back to what she was doing, so she didn't see him roll his eyes.

"Yeah, I think I got that...speaking of which, where is everyone? Are you the only one here?"

"No. Haku took Akira and Noboru out to the market to get something else besides fish to eat, leaving me alone with mom. I tried to train, but as you can see, I lost interest."

"I was wondering what that tree did to you." His attempt at warming up the conversation barely fazed the child, to his chagrin. "In all seriousness, why are you torturing a tree and not practicing? You never missed a day of training, even while staying over. It's unlike you." Sasuke jolted back when Haruka suddenly stabbed deep into the wood, tearing out a sizable chunk when she ripped her knife free.

"There's no point. Making her proud...making her happy...that's all I've ever cared about, and whenever I trained, that's what it did. It took awhile, but I eventually managed to get her to smile every time I flailed around. Now though...mom doesn't care. I can see that. So if mom doesn't care, why should I continue in something that doesn't make her happy?"

The eldest grimaced at such a blunt response. "She _does_ care, Haruka, it's...just she's trying so hard to figure out what to do."

"She was like that once before, soon after we found the cave. She still had time for me, still trained me...if we use your logic, mom would be out here right now, with me, but she isn't, is she? She's in there…'thinking', like it's the only thing that matters." One final thrust, Haruka left the knife impaled in the tree, and she turned to face her cousin. "We've given her every reason to believe us, but she still doesn't...what's causing this? Why is she throwing me away…or do you not know, either?"

"Throwing you away…? Haruka, I know what happened yesterday must have hurt, but Anza would never-"

"You're. Ignoring. The question. Do you know or not?"

Momentarily stunned that the usually kind and proper Haruka just cut him off, and with such a commanding tone too, Sasuke could tell that she wouldn't let him speak, not unless it was what she wanted to hear. He had no choice but to pretend like he didn't hear that."...no, I don't. None of us do, and that's why I'm here. I want to understand this just as much as you do."

An abnormal snarl crept onto the orphans face. "That's what I thought you'd say. Everyone I've asked said the same thing. Kakashi, Haku, Akira...no one ever knows." With a spin, she cleanly reclaimed her kunai, and started walking deeper into the property. "Aren't you suppose to know her like the back of your hand, as her so-called best friend? You should be able to see what's wrong with her...you're useless. All of you are useless."

"Haruka! Don't you walk away from me! HARUKA!" His clansmate vanished into thin air, the order rendered negligible. Sasuke cursed under his breath. 'Even Haruka is being affected by this...it's only natural, I guess. If the same thing were happening to me, I'd be angry too...but dammit, she doesn't need to have this happen to her...I hope I can help.' A last glance to see if, by some chance, she was coming back, he turned back to the old home, stepping inside it's dark halls once again and adventuring into its depths. He already had a feeling he knew where his friend was...where better to be alone than her own bedroom? So Sasuke traveled to the very back, finding the master easily. Taking a quick breath to ready himself for whatever comes next, he pushed it to the side, letting nostalgia wash over him. It was still like he remembered it, the bed covered in a silken, dark blue sheet, a rose-wood wardrobe that no doubt still held his parent's clothes, yellowed pictures and paintings depicting a happy, proud family hanging off the walls...the only thing that was out of place was, instead of the bodies of his parent's laying on it, the dull shade of silver that was Anza, holding the back of her head against the pillows.

"I thought I said I wished to not be disturbed. I'm not in the best mood, so could you get out?" she calmly asked, a far cry from what Fu described.

"Sorry, but I can't. I have some important business to deal with."

Anza's eyes shifted downward, looking at him down her nose. "So, it's your turn now, Sasuke. Why am I not surprised?"

"You should have known that I'd come by at some point."

"Hmm...perhaps, but it's been hard as is to keep me down onto a single thought process, let alone wondering when my detainers would pop up. Thankfully, I have medicine that keeps those migraines in check, and lets me think freely. Now, if only I could get some _peace_ and _quiet_, maybe I can get somewhere…"

"...I'm not leaving, if that's what you're implying."

"Alright, fine, we'll play it your way. What 'business' does a busy man like you have with me?"

"I wanted to take you to a little store I know. I promised that I'd take you shopping, and now seems the best of times as any."

The jinchuuriki propped herself up onto her arms, glaring at him under a raised brow. "...seriously? That's it? 'Shopping'? _That's_ you're grand excuse to walk all this way and disturb me? You have to be kidding."

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe it means little to you, but to me...I want to show you that I'm genuine, Anza, that you can trust me."

"You think my trust can be so easily bought with, what, clothes, of all things? Is that your plan?"

"No, I know it will take far more than that to regain what was lost between us, but I believe it is a step in the right direction."

She bared her teeth, and after jumping off the bed, Anza stomped over to the entrance. "I don't care what you believe, you just need to let me be! How hard is that to understand?! You being here...it isn't making this any easier for me!" Anza prepared to slam the door shut right in his face, but he caught it.

"Hrg...then...what if it was an order?"

"On whose grounds?"

"Mine."

She scoffed. "And why should I follow that order? I went rouge years ago. Genin, jonin...none of it means anything to me anymore."

"Look, will you please just come with?! I'm not asking for much, and you can come back right after! And if you really want it, you'll never worry about me again!"

"You won't give up, will you?" He shook his head, and while she growled, the Namikaze let go. "Fine. If it means I can get you off my back, I'll go. You might get me in trouble with the Hokage, otherwise."

Not the best of reasons, to be sure, but Sasuke couldn't stop himself from smiling at having his chance. "Great. I'll be...waiting outside, I guess? When you're ready, we'll take off."

"There's no need for that. Let's just go."

"Are you sure? You don't want to...freshen up a bit?"

Her brows pushed together. "No."

"(Sigh) We go now, then. Not that I'm really complaining. Place gives me the creeps..." He turned his back to her and took on a brisk pace, quickly exiting out the front. "Stay close now. We don't need the Anbu asshats outside thinking you're trying to escape." The Uchiha didn't get much more than the heavy steps of her feet, and for the next few minutes they just continued on into town without another word. Leaving the abandoned section behind, the roads got more and more cramped as the duo went, yet there always seemed to be a wide open section for them to walk on. That little fact wasn't lost on Sasuke, who watched everyone they passed, and he could easily see it wasn't out of any kind of common courtesy, or even respect for the headband he wore. It was fear. One good look at them, and parents pushed their children behind them, friends huddled together, hushing their voices to a whisper, loners recoiled in disgust, and all shied out of their way. Before he knew it, his fingers itched with the need to pound these people into dust. They had no right to treat Anza this way, like she was some kind of...disease...not for being manipulated! He forced his own anger to remain hidden, though, and spurned on by their cold eyes, he grabbed his old teammates hand, dragging her ever faster with him.

Caught off-guard by the sudden tug, Anza stumbled, struggling to regain her footing. "H-hey! I'm following! Let go!"

"It's not too far away. Let's just hurry this up." To her displeasure, he did no such thing, forcing her to account for his haste and adjust while Sasuke tore through the crowd. Turning a corner, the Uchiha took a shortcut down an alleyway, and crossed the last street before coming to a full stop in front of a building that...really wasn't any different than any of the others they passed. For what he said was a store, not a single piece of self-advertising branded it's face, rendering it a phantom amidst the rest of the block. "Here it is."

"Really? To me, it looks like nothing's here."

"Oh, trust me, this is the place. Kai doesn't care too much about branding."

"Then how did _you_ find it?"

"My parent's. Apparently, father heard about how good his tailoring was, and decided he would see if what the rumors said were true. To make a long story short, he liked what he wore, and since then we always came here if we needed a new outfit. Still do." He glanced back, with the faintest of smiles on his lips. "I'm sure you'll like it, too. Father was a snob, so if he liked Kai's products...well, I don't think I need to explain." Anza's expression became more incredulous, so instead of wasting more time standing under the beating sun, he shoved the door aside, where they were met with a cool and vast space, filled to the brim with fabrics. Suit and ties, kimonos and obis, t-shirts and jeans, almost everything someone could want were hiding the walls, and the carefully placed sample pieces inside elegant glass cases didn't help the common customer traverse the store, in which there were quite a few.

"So there ARE people other than you who go here. I'm honestly surprised."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And after I just told you how good Kai was…speaking of which...where _is_ the old bastard?" Taking a quick look around, he spotted the man with an 'ah', and the strange pair wandered over. "Yo! Kai!"

Said gentleman was a tall, middle-aged, balding man dressed in a finely crafted spring green robe that nearly swept the floor, and the moment the shinobi opened his mouth, Kai lifted his head from the jacket he was inspecting. "Well, well! Didn't expect you to come back so soon!" He turned, a delighted grin on his face plain as day for all to see. "Sasuke! How may I help you today? Need a new look? Or was something destroyed on a mission? I swear, you're worse than your brother!"

Sasuke chuckled. "No...well, actually, my holster's kinda kaput. Strap was snapped, and I can't stitch it back together."

"Really? But I made that with the leather from a rare hondo stout...what were you doing? It wouldn't have broken easily." Kai shook his head. "No, never mind. Wait here, I'll go see if I have any more." The Uchiha tried to stop him, but the older man was spry for his age, and was already off to the other side of the shop.

"...I thought you said he was a tailor. Tailors don't usually make holsters." Anza whispered, and the boy groaned.

"He likes to dabble...keeps his mind young, he says..."

"How long do you think it'll be before he comes back?"

"I'd give him him a minute before he finds the one he thinks fits me the best. Why?"

"...no reason." Before their conversation could continue, Kai came rushing back, a new rough-looking accessory in hand, and tossed it to Sasuke.

"Here we are. Should be comparable to the last one, at least."

"Uh...thanks…"

Kai rose a single brow. "What? You don't like it? Should I go get another one?"

"No, it'll undoubtedly see much use…"

"Then what?"

"Well...you see, I didn't come here for myself." He motioned towards Anza. "I actually came here to get her something she can call her own. Right now, she's just wearing handouts, and to be completely honest, it doesn't look good. Do you think you can help?"

For the first time in this meeting, Kai actually took the time to look at his old customer's acquaintance, and the longer he stared, the more he realized just who Sasuke brought into his store. "Is this...Anza Namikaze?"

"The one and only."

At the confirmation, creases started to form on his forehead, and his jovial energy was all but snuffed. "...that may be a problem, Sasuke. I'm not sure I can help you this time."

Sasuke jolted back. "...what do you mean, Kai?"

"I mean I won't be able to provide her service."

"Why not?! If you're worried she won't pay, I'll cover the-"

"I know you can pay, but that's not the problem."

"Then what **is**?!"

A heavy sigh escaped from the tailor. "You're a smart kid. You know why."

Sasuke stood looking at him, puzzled as to what the man was referring too, but after a second to think about it his eyes widened to the size of saucers. "No. You're not doing this, Kai!"

"I'm sorry. I can't let her into my store. It'll ruin me."

"Why do you care?! For the longest time, you've never been bothered by what other people think, but now, all the sudden, you do?!"

"Please, keep your voice down…"

"Give me a good explanation, then!"

Kai crossed his arms. "I want to help, I really do. You've been a loyal customer for many years, and it would be wrong to turn you away for any reason, but...this place makes me and my family a lot of money. Without it, we'd go broke in a year, at best, and I don't know anything else."

"But if you work quickly, you-"

He shook his head. "I can't. There are probably a handful of people who've already seen her. When they get home, or run into their friends, they will tell of what they've seen. Word will spread, and it won't be long before my stream of customers dry up, believe me."

"So you're just going to kick her out?"

"I don't have a choice. I _need_ this store, I won't lose what's given my wife and child an easy life. That's something I know you must understand."

The heir balled his fists, but he had to relent to him. "Understanding is one thing...liking it is another. Fine, then. We'll leave. I didn't want to cause you any trouble."

"You just wanted to help her out, I can't fault you for that. Speaking of which...uh...where is she?"

"Huh?" Sasuke jerked his head around, and at his side now stood nothing but air. "Damn it, I wasn't paying attention! She bolted!" Without so much as a goodbye, he threw the holster to the ground and sprinted his way back to the exit, nearly tearing the heavy glass door off its hinges when he slammed into it. Once back out onto the street, he scanned for any sign of the jinchuuriki, and luckily for him, he caught sight of a tuft of Anza's ivory locks going down the path from which they came. Easily making the turn, he quickly caught up to the lumbering girl, grabbing her arm in a tight hold, an action that didn't seem to faze her. "Where do you think _you're_ going?"

"What does it look like? Back."

"Without me?"

"Pretty much."

"You know you shouldn't do that. You're not supposed to be outside of the mansion grounds without a supervisor, what would happen if you ended up returning _alone_? Those Anbu will do their best to wring your neck!"

"At this point, I don't really care what they do, but I've entertained you long enough. This trip accomplished nothing, so I'm taking my leave."

Sighing, he let go. "Alright, what's the real excuse? If you leave now, our deal's off the table, and it was something you swallowed your pride for. It's not like you to turn your back like that."

Anza swiveled on a dime, giving him the pleasure of her icy glower. "Were you always this damn pushy?"

"Only when I have cause for concern, and you're giving me a lot to work with."

"Well, you can _stop_. I never asked you to butt your head into my life! Just take me home if you care about those rules so fucking much!"

"And why do you want to go back so soon?!"

"I want to be rid of you!" She stepped closer, thrusting her face right into his. "God, you are so dense. I don't want to be anywhere around you! You, or Fu, or ANYONE! Every time I think of you, my head feels like it's splitting apart! Because I don't know if I can trust you!"

"That's just something I don't get, Anza!"

"What's to get?! I thought you were hurting my students! I thought you were hurting _Haruka_!"

"Yet you've seen that they're fine!"

"And don't you think I don't know that?!"

"I don't think you do!"

Anza snarled, but when Sasuke thought she was going to begin clawing at his throat, the pale teen turned to the side, eyes shut. "It isn't that simple! You didn't see the vision I did...the burning it left in my head. I can't tell who's telling the truth anymore...I can't even trust _myself_. It's driving me insane…"

The Uchiha felt a twinge of sympathy pierce through his heart, and similar to her, forced his gaze to the dirt below. "...would you...like help with that?"

"And how could you possibly help me...when you're part of the problem?"

"You're confused. About everything. I know someone who...deals with that day-to-day." Sasuke steeled himself, and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, an action that caused her to recoil at his very touch. "And much more. If you accept, I know that you can put all this behind you, for...for better or worse. Just...come with me, one last time."

A 'tch' sounded from her throat, yet even though she had all the time in the world to leave, Anza chose to stay, hands shaking. After a few seconds, her eyes slowly opened back up, with the edge they previously had gone. "...I...I don't know what to do...I just...I just….I just want all this to go away...this throbbing...this...pain…." Her voice was small, and Sasuke wasn't sure if she was even talking to him, but it was a cry he heard all the same.

"Then we'll go. C'mon." Moving his hand down to hers, he again took the lead, letting her trail behind him like a child. Shrugging off any feeling of embarrassment from how they must look, it wasn't long until the two of them went through nearly nine blocks to their last destination: a large complex of various shades of brown, covered to the brim with windows, and marked by a single marble triangle out in front. Sasuke tore through the entry, ascended past kami knows how many stairs, and after a minute zeroed in on a single path. Near the end, there was a long haired brunette woman exiting from one of the rooms, and the Uchiha practically lunged, luggage and all, at her. "Doctor!"

The 'doctor' let out a sharp cry, quickly turning and nearly slapping the boy across his face, stopping just a hairs' width away from his fair skin. "S….Sasuke?!"

He let out a shaky chuckle. "Hi…"

"What are...what are you doing here?"

"Before I answer that, could you, uh...please take your hand back? I at least want a chance to fight back if you decide to hit me."

The strange woman sighed and eased up, letting her arms rest back at her sides. "That's your fault, not mine. You're the one who jumped at me."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry. Can you do me a favor?"

She tilted her head. "What _kind_ of favor? Depending on what you ask, I may have to decline. You see, I was just about to go to the restroom, and I'd _really_ not like to put it on hold any longer…"

"I need an appointment. It doesn't have to be a long one, but I need one."

"Really?" He nodded, and one of her fingers came to rest over her lips as she considered his request, but the boy didn't have to wait for long, as she shrugged. "Sure, why not? I think I can squeeze you in before the next session."

Sasuke could not keep his mouth from hanging ten inches off the floor. "...what? That's...that's it? No negotiating, no trying to deflect it, you're just going to say yes...just like that? I...I was prepared to bribe you, or worse…"

"Now you won't have to. And besides, it'll make up for the one you missed." Turning back around, she flitted through her pockets, reacquiring her key, and unlocking her door. "It'll have to be quick, as I have around twenty minutes before I get swamped with work." A gentle push, and the woman practically floated to the other end of the new room, where she grabbed a small book off a thin metallic desk. "You know...I never expected to see you again, let alone have the chance to continue where we left off. I'm glad you came back. You must still have a lot you need to talk about." The door clicked behind her, and spinning to face the sound, she prepared her checklist for the young man, but unfortunately for her, she was forced to take a mental backstep when she saw a much more feminine shape in her office. "...oh." As she sighed, the less than lucid Anza apparently regained her sense of self, and began scanning the area.

"...what? Where…?" Her violet-red pools landed onto the older woman, before her eyebrows creased. "Hm...don't know who you are, either. That can only mean one thing: I don't get to go home. Always another stop with him…"

"Trust me, I didn't plan for this either. So...could you please take a seat?"

Anza crossed her arms. "And why should I do that? I've been dragged along on a leash all day today, I don't need yet another person on the reins. I don't even know why I'm here, or where this place is."

The doctor seemingly had no follow up to her question, instead taking a liking to silently staring at her. For a couple of seconds that shrewd gaze passed up and down her body, until the other female sat down in one of her few chairs. "The moment I asked you that question, you're immediate response was to close up and take a defensive stance, trying with all your might to deny any sort of inquiry."

"To a stranger like you?"

"Yes, but it was a harmless question. It wasn't like I asked you to, oh...what would be a good analogy for you...stab yourself? You must have a high distrust of anyone you meet." She clasped her hands in front of her face. "My guess? Something happened to you in the past that gave you severe trauma. Maybe you were beaten? Lied to by someone you trusted? Forced to do something that you didn't agree with? Any of those ring any bells?"

Ice seemed to run through the Namikaze's veins as she heard the doctor's proclamation. "That's...impossible. I've only told a few people, and the others wormed into...how could _you_ know?"

"Because you're a mess, and I can read you like an open book. Now how about you join me over here? It'll be much comfier."

Anza's jawline became stiff, yet the rest of her body betrayed her obvious unease, taking the chair across from the woman. "Fine. You have my attention."

"Good. Now, let's just get this out of the way. This will not be a normal session, as I don't have enough time to properly sit down with you. It will be a...preliminary hearing, so to speak."

"Alright, but what is this place? What am I doing here?"

"The first I can answer, but the other, you'd have to get out of your friend. This is a branch of the Konoha Hospital, the Mental Health Ward, built once it became clear there were far too many patients that couldn't be healed through the normal means."

"You mean...things like PTSD, don't you?."

"You'd be correct. A fairly by-the-books example, but correct. But, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. I haven't even introduced myself." She let loose a charming smile. "My name is Lyn. I'm one of the many psychologists who call this place their second home, working myself to the bone here for nearly three decades. So what's your name?"

"...are you joking? You don't know who I am?"

"Of course I know. I'd be surprised if someone didn't, what with you smothering any and every headline in the recent weeks. I just want to hear what _you_ call yourself."

Her eternal furrow returned to grace her face. "...I don't understand. Why does it matter?"

"You'd be surprised what I can learn from something as seemingly insignificant as a name."

"Then...Anza. I'm Anza Namikaze."

Lyn hummed a cheery tune as a pen met her journal, swiftly jotting down long, sweeping lines that apparently spanned both sides of the book. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

"What are you doing?"

"...writing?"

"About what?"

"You. Come on, you're not regressing, are you?"

"N-no, I figured, but…"

"But what? That you'd get me to tell you what I put in there? Sorry, but...you're not permitted to that information."

"Why, then? If it's about me, don't I have a-"

"No, you don't. The fact still remains that you're not a patient, so any and everything I make note of _you_ can't have the luxury of knowing. Speaking of which..." Diverting her attention to the farthermost wall for a second, Lyn peeked at the digital clock mounted in the plaster. "Ah, well, just as I thought. We're out of time."

"...out of...time? Already?"

"What else did you expect? You and Sasuke caught me at the worst possible time. My next meeting will be happening in a minute, and I can't just tell them they have to wait _another_ half-hour, or worse, an hour, when they've been promised this time slot. But, if it makes you feel any better…" Once again, her hands blurred through the book, tearing a page out when she was done and holding it out for the confused teen to take, which Anza did after some dumbfounded hesitation. "That holds all the times I have open for the next week. If you would like, come on any of those days, and I can devote more time to you...maybe even figure out why Sasuke brought you here. Until then, I'll have to say goodbye." Anza didn't need to be told twice, getting out of her barely warm seat and vacating the office, paper in hand.

Sasuke, who had been leaning against the wall since he shoved the jinchuuriki in his stead, came back to her side, easily seeing the utter confusion written all over her face. "So...uh...how'd it go?"

"...she tore me apart. Every attempt to keep the conversation on my side failed, and she talked circles around me without so much as batting an eye. I don't get it...I thought I was good at taking control of the situation, but that woman...utterly destroyed me." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Take me home. _Now_."

While the idea of putting an end to this roller-coaster of a day tantalized him, that razor thin gaze made the young Uchiha have to force down a gulp. "Yeah, no problem. I was going to do that anyway…" '...it's going to be a long walk back.'

* * *

**A.N. Hey...it's been another long while, hasn't it? I'm really sorry...I still haven't gotten over the issues that plagued me from the last chapter. It's...gotten hard to write, as you...probably saw with the above chapter. It felt convoluted to create. Every time I see what I type, all I see is how...standard, boring, it is. I don't know what to do anymore, and I don't know if what I'm writing even makes sense. Maybe I'm just trying too hard. It could just be me. If it is, there's not much I can do about it, and I can not promise that this will update frequently like it did in the past. Or I should just put up my hat and never touch this thing again, something I don't want to do but am REALLY considering, due to how my stance on this thing has changed over the months. I'll probably figure that out soon. Now...I guess I should move onto more...optimistic stuff, huh? There is one problem I need address...how poorly written the beginning stuff was. I didn't do shit for, well, _anything_, and Anza is...just too much. I need to go back and fix a lot of things...like her having the damn Sharingan. It was stupid and needs to go, as does that whole arc and beyond. Just...so many things. Fortunately, while this will take time away from the next chapters, it'll make it so that I can bear to continue and figure out what I want to do. So...I don't know how any of you will feel about that...probably thinking I'm being melodramatic, I wager. Sorry if it's an inconvenience, but I feel as if I have to.**

**Probably Jesus: It's fine if you're late, I'm the one who should be apologizing with month long droughts. I'm glad that my choices don't really hamper you reading this monstrosity, but as noted above, I need to go fix the past to have a decent future...and I'll never be able to _not_ demotivate myself. It's just who I am, and it's good to have the things I suck at pointed out. That Master of Fate guy did, pretty brutally too. All of it true. I _do_ suck, and no one should have to feel they need to defend they're point of view to spare the authors feelings.**

**Deltahalo241: Not for much longer if things keep going the way they are.**

**Gespenter: Meh, they're always pretty short.**

**Master of Fate (multiple reviews, all in one response): Don't know if you'll see this...at this point, it probably doesn't matter, huh? I never even knew you left a review, I got no notifications. Anyway...I still feel the need to address this. Yeah...all your points are valid. I made it seem like Mito and Anza would be co-leads, then never did anything with the former until just recently. 'Menma' being an overpowered, Mary Sue? Sadly, I guess that's how it crumbled, despite me doing my best to make it seem like it wasn't. I didn't know what I was doing, I still don't. Why do I even bother trying if all this comes to is what everyone hates about this site in the first place: stories full of Mary Sue OCs pretending that they can do better than the original author? I failed in every regard, and I'm paying for it mentally. This is getting to be too taxing on me. I'm sorry if you (and anyone else that has somehow made it to this point while wondering if this is something they should read) hated what I've done. All I can do is say I'll try harder, but let's be real here...no matter what, I won't make anything truly worthwhile with my experience.**


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